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/ 

THE 



GOOD OLD TIMES 



, 



McLEAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 



CONTAIN! Mi 



Two Hundred and Sixty-one Sketches of Old Settlers. 



A COMPLETE 



Historical Sketch of the Black Hawk War, 

And descriptions of all matters of interest relating to McLean County. 



Written by Dr. E DUIS, 

LA IE PROFESSOR OF GERMAN IN THE BLOOMINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



BLOOMINGTON : 

THE LEADER PUBLISHING AND PRINTING HOUSE. 
1874. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

E. DUIS, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






THIS VOLUME 
is most respectfully dedicated to the 

OLD SETTLERS OF McLEAN COUNTY, 

Whose virtues as citizens, and as pioneers in the cause of civilization and progress, 

will be remembered with gratitude by all the generations which 

follow in their footsteps, 

In the fulfillment of that proud destiny, so happily inaugurated by their 

BRAVERY, INDUSTRY AXD INTEGRITY. 



PREFACE. 



The author of this volume does not wish to impose on the 
public a narrative of his trials in collecting information and in 
writing the sketches contained herein, although the difficulties 
have been very great. Notwithstanding all of his troubles, it 
has, on the whole, been a pleasant task. It has brought him in 
contact with the pleasantest and most freehearted men with 
whom it has been his lot to be acquainted. They are men whose 
ideas were formed in the days when neighbors were few and 
friendships were more highly prized than silver and gold. 

It is possible that some mistakes have been made in this work 
on account of the great variety of facts to be collected, but the 
author has taken extraordinary pains to verify the matters herein 
narrated, and he believes the mistakes are few. 

He is under many obligations to old settlers for favors ren- 
dered, and had it not been for the exertions of Judge J. E. Me- 
Clun and John Magoun, it is doubtful whether the author would 
have had sufficient courage to have brought the work to comple- 
tion. He is also under many obligations to Mr. Jesse \V. Fell, 
President Richard Edwards, W. H. Hodge, J. W. Billings and 
others. 

It has been impossible to obtain the sketches of all of the 
settlers who came to McLean County before the year 1838. The 
greater number of them are dead ; many have moved away ; 
some could not be seen, and a few were unwilling to have the 
incidents of their lives put into print. Nevertheless the sket. 
of two hundred and sixty-one old settlers, and eight gentlemen of 
McLean County holding prominent positions are given. Various 
other short biographical sketches appear in different parts of the 



VI PREFACE. 

work. This the reader will find sufficient to set forth McLean 
County in all its lights and shades. The " good old times" and 
the new are made plain in the stories of these men. 

The author intended to have written for this work a complete 
history of the churches, but, strange to say, the information con- 
cerning them was quite as difficult to obtain as that of the old 
settlers, and would have made a large volume by itself. 

Bloomington, Illinois, June 1st, 1874. 



TABLE OP CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

McLEAN COUNTY 1 

Normal University 19 

Soldiers' Orphans' Home 29 

The First Newspaper 31 

Newspapers of the County 33 

BLOOMINGTON 39 

Public Schools 57 

Wesleyan University 63, 

Business College 75 

German School 75 

Female Seminary 76 

Library 77 

Coal Company 79 

Turn-Verein ■ 81 

Turn-Gem einde 81 

Railroads 83 

THE BLACK HAWK WAR 97 

Black Hawk. 

Cause of the War. 

The troubles of 1831. 

Burning of the Sac Village. 

Renewal of trouble in 1832. 

Call for Volunteers. 

Stillman's Run. 

Massacre on Indian Creek. 

Second call for Volunteers. 

Fight at Burr Oak Grove. 

Attack on Apple River Fort. 

Attack of Captain Stephenson. 

Fight on the Pecatonica. 

Rendezvous of Volunteers at Fort Wilburn. 

Fight at Kellogg's Grove. 

March to the Four Lakes. 

Battle of Wisconsin Heights. 

Pursuit of the Indians. 

Battle of Bad Axe. 



VIH TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Capture of Black Hawk. 
Conclusion of Peace. 
Distinguished soldiers of the Black Hawk War. 
General Harney. 
Colonel Baker. 
John T. Stuart, 

■ General Albert .Sidney Johnson. 
General Zachary Taylor. 
General Robert Anderson. 
Jefferson Davis. 
Abraham Lincoln. 
General Scott. 

THE OLD SETTLERS OF McLEAN COUNTY. 
Allin Township. 

DATE OF SETTLEMENT. PAGE. 

Presley T. Brooks Winter of 1830 J25 

Greenberry Larison ISol 127 

Richard A. Warlow Fall of 1834 13-5 

Arkowsmith. 

John B. Thompson ' October, 1829 136 

Jacob Smith 1883 140 

Bloomiwgton. 

John Hendris Spring of 1822 141 

John W. Dawson •• " •• 143 

John Dawson June, 1822 145 

William Orendorff Spring of 1823 149 

Thomas Orendortf '« •■ 151 

John B. Orendorff « » 157 

James K. Orendorff •• " 158 

Oliver H. P. Orendorff " '< 163 

Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes Spring of 1824 166 

John H. S. Rhodes •• •• 168 

Jeremiah Rhodes •• •' 173 

William H. Hodge " " 177 

William R. Goodheart Pall of 1824 182 

William Evans, sr, 1824 186 

William Dimmitt 1825 18*.) 

Robert Guthrie 1826 I'M 

Rev. Robert E.Guthrie <« 193 

Adam Guthrie '« 197 

David Cox >• 198 

William McCullough " 201 

Dr. Isaac Baker July. 1827 206 

George Hinshaw, jr " •• 208 

Dr. William Lindley 1828 211 

Hon. James Allin 1829 212 

William If. Allin •• 215 

Jonathan Maxson September, 1830 216 



TABLE OS CONTENTS. US 

HATE OF SETTLEMENT. PAGE. 

David Simmons F:l11 "' 1>;:u 22] 

Hon. John Moore October, 1830 225 

Amasa C Washburn 1881 

Dr. Stephen Ward Noble 

Abraham Stansberry l832 

James U. Harbord October, 1832 239 

Ephraim Platte Spring of is:;:; 242 

Hon. James B. Trie October, 1883 245 

George Price _ 

John J. Price " 251 

Lewis Bunn 1833 252 

William C. Warlow 

John Lindley 

Allen With ers 

Dr. John F. Henry 

General A. Gridley Fall of 1831 

Judge David Davis 1835 

Elder William T. Major 

Chast ine Maj or 

Dr. Laban S. Major 

Dr. John M. Major 

Thomas Fell October, 1835 

John Magoun 1835 



Dr. C. Wakefield 

William 0. Viney August, 1837 

John T. Gunnel! 

John W. Billings 

Hen ry Richardson 

Joshua Fell 

Jonathan Glimpse 

Dr. Henry Conkling Fal1 I838 

Chenky\s Grove. 



256 
258 

2G1 



288 
290 

296 

298 



306 

308 

312 

:!14 
318 



Thomas Jefferson Karr 

Hon. James Miller 

William H. Temple 

James Depew 

Matthew H. Hawks 

Samuel Lander Fal1 1835 

William Thomas Spring 

Thomas Williams 

Kersey H. Fell 

William F. Flagg 

Judge John E. McClun Spring 1837 

Abraham Brokaw 



326 
330 
1836 336 



348 



Andrew W. Scoggin ls::T 



354 
358 

364 
369 
371 

7 



Jonathan Cheney 1 S -'"' 



Hon. William Haines Cheney 
George Cheney 



-7 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

DATE OF SETTLEMENT. PAGE. 

James Vanscoyoc 1829 890 

Thomas Cunningham " 393 

King Solomon Cunningham " 394 

James R. Means March 1830 395 

iphraim S. Myers April 1830 399 

William Riggs 1830 403 

Snowden Ball 1831 407 

Hilleary Ball " 408 

William K. Stansberry October, 1833 410 

Otha Owen " Sept, 1834 413 

Joseph Newcom 1835 415 

Isaac Stansberry .' 1836 419 

Dale. 

Robert H. Johnson December, 1828 422 

William Beeler Fall 1830 424 

William Beeler, jr " " 427 

Jesse Hill October, 1830 430 

Abram Enlow Fall 1835 434 

Richard Rowell Cctober, 1836 436 

Dan vers. 

EbenezerB. Mitchel March, 1825 438 

Hon. Matthew Robb Spring 1827 344 

Thomas McClure Spring 1827 446 

Robert McClure " " 449 

Jonathan Hodge " " 454 

Uriah S. Hodge , " " 457 

William F. Hodge " " 457 

James O. Barnard March, 1828 460 

James G. Reyburn Sept, 1828 462 

Levi Danley Feb. 1829 466 

The Conger Family 1829 469 

Israel W. Hall 1834 471 

JeremiahS. Hall " 472 

John Hay " 474 

George F. Hay <l 475 

Jonathan B. Warlow " 478 

Downs. 

Lawson Downs 1829 480 

William Weaver 1882 482 

William Bishop 1833 484 

Elias H. Wall " 486 

John Price 1*:;4 491 

Rev. Sylvester Peasley Fall 1834 497 

Alexander P. Craig " '• 500 

Henry Welch March, 1835 502 

Hon. John Cusey Fall 1836 505 

Samuel Troop Richardson Summer 1838 510 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 

date of settlement. page. 

Dry Grove. 

Henry Vansiekles 1826 514 

Stephen Webb July. ]s^7 516 

George M. Hinshaw July, 1827 •"-■JO 

Benjamin S. Beeler October, 1830 521 

Ormond Robison 1832 52:5 

John Enlow Fall 1835 524 

Eleazar Munsell Spring 1837 525 

Empire. 

R. Franklin Dickerson 1825 528 

Henry C. Dickerson " 531 

Thomas Buckles 1827 533 

James H. Conaway February, 1828 537 

Esek E. Greenman July, 1829 538 

Otho Merrifield 1829 546 

Henry Crumbaugh March, 1830 547 

Daniel Crumbaugh '• " 550 

James H. L. Crumbaugh " " 553 

Silas Waters November, 1830 555 

James Bishop May, 1831 557 

Thomas Jefferson Barnett April, 1832 561 

Abram Buckles 1832 564 

James Kimler 1832 568 

Hiram Buck 1833 570 

Hon. Malon Bishop 1834 574 

Thomas D. Gilmore 1836 578 

Funk's Grove. 

Hon. Isaac Funk vpril, 1824 580 

Robert Funk 1824 590 

Robert Stubblefield December, 1824 596 

Absalom Stubblefield " " 599 

John Stubblefield " " 602 

Gridley. 

William M. McCord 1827 604 

John B. Messer March, 1829 607 

John Sloan November, 1835 611 

Jonathan Coon April, 1836 615 

Isaiah Coon July, 1837 619 

James S. Coon " " 621 

George W. Cox 1837 624 

Hudson. 

Young Bilbrey 1827 625 

Joseph Messer March, 1829 ''>- s 

Jesse Havens December, 1829 629 

Hiram Havens " " 631 

Benjamin Wheeler 1830 634 

John Smith " 137 

Albert Y. Phillips " 640 



Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

DATK "F SETTLEMENT. PAGE. 

Isaac Turnipseed. Spring 1831 643 

Elijah Priest July, 1834 644 

Samuel Lewis May. 1836 646 

Samuel H. Lewis " " 648 

James T. Gildersleeve ..Fall 1836 650 

Joseph D. Gildersleeve " 1836 654 

Jacob H. Burtis Winter 1836 656 

Enoch A. Gastman March, 1838 657 

Lawn dale. 

David Henline Fall 1828 660 

William B. Henline " " 660 

Martin Henline " " 663 

Martin Batterton Fall 1833 664 

Lexington. 

Jacob Spawr Fall 1826 665 

George Spawr Fall 1827 668 

Joseph Brumhead 1828 671 

Henson B. Downey " 072 

John Haner Fall 1828 673 

Benjamin Patton 1828 676 

Patrick Hopkins 1830 677 

Peter Hefner 1830 G80 

John Dawson December, 1832 683 

Croghan Dawson " " 685 

James Adams Fall 183 ! 687 

Shelton Smith " " 689 

Milton Smith [ » ]*35 692 

Thomas McMackin '• 1838 694 

Martin. 

William Wiley •■ 1835 696 

Lytle R. Wiley •• " 698 

Curtis Batterton Spring ISoT 699 

Money Ckeek. 

Jesse Trimmer June, 1826 701 

Henry Moats Fall 1S2'.> Tic; 

William Stretch Fall L830 703 

Albert Ogden Fall 1831 704 

William Wilcox hine. 1832 705 

John Ogden Fall 1832 709 

James McAferty December, 1832 710 

Dr. Ethan McAferty " " 711 

Samuel Ogden Fall is:]:; 712 

Jonathan Ogden " " 714 

Madison Young •• 715 

James R. Wiley " 1835 716 

Wesley F. Bishop •• 1836 718 

William Crose 1837 720 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. x'lii 

date of settlement page. 

Mount Hope. 

George M. Stubblefield December, L824 I'll 

Jesse Stubblefield L825 727 

William Hieronymus Fall 1828 728 

Enoch Hieronymus " :' 7:]0 

John Hougham. " 1831 732 

Westley Hougham " " 7:;i 

John Longworth 1836 7:'..") 

Old Town. 

Lewis Case July, 183:; 738 

Harvey Bishop 18 7jo 

F. R. Cowden 1834 741 

Padua. 

William Evans, jr, 1825 743 

Daniel Jackson October, 1830 745 

Jeremiah Greenman, Fall 1831 74i; 

John Bishop March, 1832 747 

Adolphus Dimmick Fall 1832 749 

Josiah Horr October, 1836 750 

Randolph. 

Alfred M. Stringfield Spring 1823 752 

Thomas 0. Rutledge Fall 1824 759 

Robert H. Rutledge " " 765 

Jesse Funk December, 1824 769 

George C. Hand " 1825 775 

Nathan Low IS - -!'.) 776 

Purnel Passwaters Spring 1830 779 

Richard Passwaters " " 780 

Purnel Passwaters, jr, '• " 7 s - 

Enoch J. Passwaters " " 783 

Clement Passwaters.. " " 7*4 

Jacob Bishop September, 1830 784 

Matthew Covardale ..Fall 1830 788 

Samuel Stewart Fall 1831 700 

John H. Stewart " " 792 

David Noble " " 795 

William C. Noble " " 796 

Joseph K. Noble " " 798 

Dr. Harrison Noble 1833 800 

Walter Karr March, 1834 802 

William Rust Fall 1834 805 

John F. Rust Spring 1834 806 

William M. Rust Fall 1834 809 

Harvey J. Rust " •' 810 

Campbell Wakefield June, 1835 812 

Dr. Thomas Karr October, 1835 814 

William Karr " " *17 

George Martin li " 819 



XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

DATE OF SETTLEMENT. PAGE. 
TOWANDA. 

Jesse Walden Fall 1828 820 

White Oak. 

John Benson, sr., 1823 823 

John Benson, jr., " s 27 

James Benson " 831 

William T.T.Benson " 833 

Elisha Dixon 1828 835 

Smith Denman September, 1829 837 

Abraham Carlock ....Spring 1831 838 

Stephen Taylor Fall 1837 841 

PERSONS HOLDING POSITIONS OF HONOR OR TRUST. 

Dr. Thomas P. Rogers 846 

Judge Thomas F.Tipton 852 

Judge Amasa J. Merriman 853 

Judge Reuben M. Benjamin 854 

General John McNulta 857 

Hou. John L. Routt 858 

Henry Honscheidt 863 

John Hull, Superintendent of Schools 864 



THE OLD SETTLERS. 



The old settlers of McLean County are one by one passing 
beyond the shores of the unknown river, and in a few years not 
one will be left of the noble band of pioneers who made their 
homes in what was then a wilderness, inhabited only by red men. 
Their descendants, and those who come after them, will live to 
enjoy the full measure of happiness and prosperity built upon the 
solid foundations laid by the old settlers ; and may they ever 
hold in grateful remembrance those fathers and mothers whose 
daring and hardihood were the source of our present greatness. 
May the good actions, the intrepidity, and the daring of the old 
settlers, remain green in the memory of coming generations, for- 



ever 



Since this work has been in preparation, five old settlers have 
passed away. Their names are : James C. Harbord, of Bloom- 
ington township ; Alexander P. Craig, of Downs township ; Dr. 
John F. Henry, late of Burlington, Iowa ; Patrick Hopkins, of 
Lexington ; and Daniel Crumbaugh, of Empire township. Peace 
to their ashes ! 

The present generation of McLean County is so near, in point 
of time, to the old settlers, that, as a rule, sufficient importance 
is not attached to their early struggles, their fortitude, and self- 
sacrifiee, which has resulted in the astonishing progress of the 
county. While the pioneers are deservedly held in high esteem 
by all who study the local history of Illinois, it will remain for 
future generations to bestow upon them the full degree of grati- 
tude and veneration to which they are entitled. In the same 
manner we now look back to Revolutionary sires with a pride 
we do not care to conceal. 



XVI THE OLD SETTLERS. 

The old settlers were ardent believers in the future greatness 
of Illinois, where they had found a rich soil, a beautiful country, 
anc} everything that could promise a wonderful development. 
How well their anticipations have been fulfilled need not be told. 
Doubtless they did not believe that the very next generation after 
them would reap such golden returns from the original invest- 
ments, but they knew too well that such returns could not be 
delayed many years after the first inhabitants should pass away. 

In a few years the War of Rebellion will be the great dividing 
line between early and late times in McLean County. Even now 
it is thirteen years since that bloody storm commenced to sweep 
over the land, and many who were engaged in its sanguinary 
encounters have left the scene of action. How important, there- 
fore, that the incidents connected with the first settlers should be 
preserved and kept fresh in the recollections of their descendants. 
The records in old times were few and imperfect, but that which 
they reveal should be cherished with all the wealth of affection 
owing to souvenirs and relics handed down from a sturdy 
ancestry. 



M'LEAN COUNTY. 



Illinois was made a State in the Union in the year 1818, when 
it had a population of about forty-five thousand. At that time 
the settlements made were in the southern part, and the first 
legislature met at Kaskaskia. But a new State Capital was 
selected. The town of Vandalia was laid out for this purpose 
in the wilderness on the Kaskaskia River. The town received 
its name by means of a practical joke played upon the commis- 
sioners who made the location. In Ford's History of Illinois 
we find : " Tradition says that a wag, who was present, sug- 
gested to the commissioners that the Vandals were a powerful 
nation of Indians, who once inhabited the banks of the Kaskas- 
kia River, and that Vandalia, formed from their name, would 
perpetuate the memory of that extinct but renowned people !" 
Vandalia was made the capital of the State and also the seat of 
justice of the county of Fayette. This county included a large 
territory, and the present county of McLean was within its 
boundaries. Before the spring of 1822 not a single white per- 
son had made a settlement within the boundaries of the present 
McLean County. For thousands of years the country had be- 
longed to the Indians, the wolves, the deer and the rattle 
snakes. The rich soil had each year produced luxuriant crops 
of prairie grass, which, on the lowlands, grew from six to eight 
feet in height. In the fall of each year the prairie fires swept 
over it, leaving it black and bare and desolate. These fires pre- 
vented the growth of timber, except occasionally on the high- 
lands or in broken country formed by streams of water. 

In the fall of 1821 John Ilendrix and John W. Dawson 
came with their families to Sangamon County from Ohio. In 
the spring of 1822 they came to what is now called Blooming 
Grove and made a settlement. At that time not a single house 



2 SKETCH OF 

was to be found between Blooming Grove and Chicago. A lew 
men were then engaged in making salt at Danville and a few 
miners were at Galena. 

After the first settler comes and the country is heard of, 
others soon follow. In about the year 1822 Gardner Randolph 
settled at Randolph's. Grove. In the spring of 1823 John Ben- 
son, the old soldier of 1812, and his family came to Blooming 
Grove and made a settlement, living first in a linn bark camp. 
During the same year the String-field family, consisting of the 
widow Stringfield and her sons Severe and Alfred M., came to 
Randolph's Grove, where they liveol at first in a half-faced 
camp. Absalom and Isaac Funk and Mr. Brook came during 
the same year and settled in Funk's Grove. On the second of 
May, 1823, the OrendorfFs, William and Thomas, came to Bloom- 
ing Grove. It was during this year, too, that William II. Hodge, 
the pioneer schoolmaster, came to Blooming Grove from Sanga- 
mon County. Blooming Grove was the favorite spot for the 
new settlers, and the most of them came there ; but the other 
groves were not long neglected. In about the year 1824 the 
old Quaker, Ephraim Stout, and his son Ephraim Stout, Jr., 
made a settlement in Stout's Grove. During this year Robert 
Stubblefield and family came to Funk's Grove and Thomas 0. 
Rutledge came with his mother and the Rutledge family to 
Randolph's Grove. The first sermon preached within the limits 
of the present McLean County was delivered by Rev. James 
Stringfield from Kentucky. He was an uncle of Squire String- 
field of Randolph's Grove. The little congregation was gath- 
ered at the cabin of John Hendrix and there the services were 
held. In June, 1824, Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes came with his 
family to Blooming Grove. He was a member of the Separate 
Baptist denomination, but afterwards joined the Christian 
Church. Wherever two or three families could be gathered 
together, Mr. Rhodes delivered to them a sermon. He was the 
first regular preacher in McLean County, and for a long while 
the only one. He often traveled with Rev. Mr. Latta, and they 
both preached at the same place. 

When the first settlers came to the country, the Indians 
were plenty. The Kickapoos ruled the country. They had 
made a treaty sometime previous, by which the whites acquired 



M LEAN COUNTY. 6 

all their land : but when the whites came in to settle and occupy 
it the Kickapoos were angry, and some of them felt disposed to 
insult and annoy the settlers. When John Hendrix came to 
Blooming Grove the Indians ordered him to leave. Not long 
afterwards they frightened away a family which settled on the 
Mackinaw. Old Machina, the chief of the Kickapoos, ordered 
the Dawson family away, by throwing leaves in the air. This 
was to let the bootanas (white men) know that they must not he 
found in the country when the leaves of autumn should fall. In 
1823, when the Orendorfi's came, Old Machina had learned to 
speak a little English. He came to Thomas Orendorff, and 
with a majestic wave of his hand said, " Too much come back, 
white man, t'other side Sangamon." The Rhodes family was 
likewise ordered away. These things appeared a little threat- 
ening, but the settlers refused to leave and were not molested. 
It is the almost unanimous expression of the settlers that the 
Indians were the best of neighbors. They were polite and 
friendly, and Old Machina was quite popular among the whites, 
especially with the women. He was particularly fond of child- 
ren, and this touched their motherly hearts. 

The year 1825 was marked by some accessions to the little 
band of settlers. On the third of March, during that year, Rev. 
Peyton Mitchel came with his family to Stout's Grove. Mr. 
Mitchel was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church 
and was a zealous and earnest Christian. In the fall of this year 
Jonathan Cheney made a settlement with his family at Cheney's 
Grove. His stock lived during the winter on the twigs of trees 
and came out in good condition in the spring. This food was 
liked by the cattle, and the settlers often fed their stock in this 
way. During this same year the family of William Evans came 
to Blooming Grove and made a settlement. This year was 
marked by some few improvements. The settlers were obliged 
to go long distances to mill and took large loads. They went 
first to Attica on the Wabash, one hundred and twenty miles 
distant. Afterwards they went to Green's mill on Fox River, 
near where Ottawa now stands, about eighty miles distant. But 
during the year 1825 Ebenezer Rhodes built a mill at Blooming 
Grove. The stones for grinding were the "nigger heads" or 
boulders from the prairie. His mill was of the kind which be- 



4 SKETCH OF 

came afterwards ipute common and was called a "corn cracker." 
The most curious of these mills was the one afterwards built by 
Major Baker. The stones w r ere "nigger heads" cut in the shape 
of a coffee mill, and while in motion the lower stone was the one 
which revolved. 

In August, 1826, the Trimmer family came to Smith's Grove. 
Here John Trimmer died and his widow settled with her family 
during the same year in Money Creek timber. Jacob Spawr 
came about the same time and lived with the Trimmer family. 
It is pretty hard to bring clearly before the mind the circum- 
stances of the early settlers. Everything was different in their 
surroundings. In those clays the green head flies became very 
numerous and were almost an Egyptian plague. They became 
so troublesome that, during about six weeks of the year in fly- 
time, travelers were obliged to go on their journeys at night ; 
and even then their horses or oxen were troubled by the flies, if 
the moon was shining brightly. Their bite was so severe that 
a horse, if turned loose during that season of the year, was liable 
to be goaded to death with pain, loss of blood and incessant 
kicking to become rid of the flies. They were the most numer- 
ous and troublesome on the routes where travelers usually 
passed with their teams. 

The devices used by the settlers were of every kind and 
description, and a particular account of them would fill a volume. 
On Greenberry Larison's place, at Brooks' Grove, was for many 
years a wooden grindstone, made by Josiah Harp. It was a large 
wooden wheel, and the outer edge or rim was pounded full of 
sand and fine gravel. This was done while the wood was fresh 
and green, and when it dried, the sand and gravel were tightlv 
held. By the revolution of this wheel an ax could be sharpened 
or scratched, and something of an edge given to it. The settlors 
were obliged to go long distances to have their tools sharpened. 
Isaac Funk and Kobert Stubblefield often carried their plough 
irons on horseback fifty or sixty miles for this purpose. 

The prairie grass in the early days grew very high, and its 
roots were tough and fibrous. It was therefore very hard for the 
settlers to break their prairie. A good breaking team consisted 
of five or six yoke of oxen, and the plow was an old fashioned 
Barshear, which cut a furrow twenty-two inches in width. This 



M'LEAN COUNTY. 5 

plow would now be really a curiosity. It had a shear of cold 
hammered steel and was attached to a wooden mouldboard. It 
went out of use many years ago. The prairie grass with its 
tibrous roots has also given way to civilization, and the pretty 
blue grass has taken its place. The settlers were so far from mar- 
ket, and the cost of transportation was so great that they could 
buy but few articles of every day use. They were obliged to 
make them or do without. They raised their own wool and flax 
and spun and wove their own cloth. They wore home-made 
jeans and linsey woolsey. Their shoes were of their own make, 
and sometimes their leather was of their own tanning. They 
raised their own sheep, of course. The earliest settlers say that 
it was easy to raise sheep at first; that the wolves would not 
molest them. But the wolves soon acquired a taste for mutton 
and became -the most vicious and troublesome enemies with 
which the settlers had to contend. It became as much the duty 
of settlers to chase wolves as to plow, sow and reap. They 
caught the wolves in traps and in pens, killed them with clubs 
while chasing them on horseback, made ring hunts for the pur- 
pose of exterminating them, poisoned them, offered bounties for 
their scalps and made warfare on them in a thousand different 
ways. Sometimes when a wolf became very troublesome the 
settlers offered bounties for its particular scalp. More than a 
thousand bushels of corn were once offered for the scalp of a 
single wolf. It was killed by John Price of Downs, but he re- 
fused to accept the bounty. The legislature at last raised the 
bounty on wolf scalps. A grandiloquous speaker, named Hub- 
bard, once expressed the feelings of the settlers, though in ;i 
laughable style, when he said : 

" Mr. Speaker, from all sources of information I learn that 
the wolf is a very noxious animal ; that he goes prowling about, 
seeking something to devour; that he rises up in the dead and 
secret hours of the night, when all nature reposes in silent ob- 
livion, and then commits the most terrible devastations among 
the rising generation of hogs and sheep." 

The stock, which the settlers raised, was collected by drovers 
and taken to market toPekin, Peoria, Galena or Chicago. The 
Funks were the greatest drovers and did by far the largest busi- 
ness. They led a hard life, and the difficulties they encountered 
and overcame seem almost beyond belief. 



f! SKETCH OF 

Iii 1826 a man named Smith came to Dry Grove, made a 
claim and lived for a while in a tent. In October of that year 
Peter McCullough came from Tennessee, bought Smith's claim 
and put up the first house in Dry Grove. 

By this time the settlers in this section of the country 
thought they ought to have a new county. Everyone was anx- 
ious ; petitions were circulated, and the legislature of 1826 and 
'27 formed the county of Tazewell from a part of Fayette. 
This action of the legislature was ratified at an election held in 
April, 1827, at the house of William Oreudorff of Blooming 
Grove. William Orendorff was elected justice of the peace ; 
William H. Hodge was elected sheriff and Thomas Orendorff 
was elected coroner. The first court of Tazewell County was 
held at the house of Ephraim Stout of Stout's Grove. But 
Mackinawtown was made the seat of justice, and here the pub- 
lic buildings were to be erected. The jail was built of logs by 
Matthew Robb and others, and in order to test its strength this 
gentleman was placed inside and the door locked. But he suc- 
ceeded in getting out of the little establishment. 

The season of 1827 was remarkably early. By the middle 
of March the grass was ankle deep in the marshes, and the prai- 
rie had a greenish tinge. This season was remarkable, too, for 
the great storm, which passed through Blooming Grove and Old 
Town timber. It was the twenty-third of June when it came. 
Everything fell before it ; the largest trees were uprooted and 
twisted and broken, and in some places the logs were piled up 
twenty feet in height. For many years afterwards the track of 
this terrible storm was plainly seen. 

During the summer of 1827, which was very wet, Stephen 
Webb, William McCord and George and Jacob Hinshaw came 
to the county. Stephen Webb settled in Dry Grove and the 
Hinshaws settled in Blooming Grove, but afterwards moved to 
Dry Grove. In March of this year Matthew Robb and Robert 
McClure settled at Stout's Grove. 

During the early days the West was thickly inhabited by 
snakes, and the settlers tell great stories of the number they 
killed. Nevertheless the settlers often went to the field and did 
their ploughing barefooted. Mr. Peasley of Down says that 
while ploughing around a patch of ground, the snakes continu- 



M LEAN COUNTY. 7 

ally crawled away from the furrow to the center of the un- 
plowed patch, and when it became very small the grass was 
fairly alive with the wriggling, squirming reptiles, and they 
would at last break in every direction. The rattlesnakes fre- 
quently bit the oxen, but the latter seldom died on account of 
snake bite. The poison of the rattlesnake is most virulent and 
dangerous in August. 

One of the greatest difficulties with which the settlers were 
obliged to contend was the fire on the prairie. In the fall of 
the year they prot ected their farms by ploughing furrows around 
them, and sometimes by ploughing furrows wide apart and 
burning out the grass between them. But in spite of all pre- 
cautions the settlers often suffered. The fire sometimes came 
before preparation was made, and sometimes it leaped over the 
furrows and burned up fences, fields of corn, stacks of hay and 
stacks of wheat. It moved so rapidly that very little time was 
given to prepare for it. It drew 7 currents of air in after it to feed 
the flames, and the wind drove it on faster and faster. A prairie 
fire moves with the central portion ahead, while the wings hang 
back on each side, in the shape of a flock of wild geese. Some- 
times the settlers protected not only their farms from fire but a 
considerable prairie. The prairie so protected soon became 
covered with a growth of timber. 

In March, 1828, the family of Francis Barnard came to Dry 
Grove. During the same year the Henline family came to 
Mackinaw timber and settled on the north of the Mackinaw on 
Henline Creek. In February, 1829, Levi Danley came to 
Stout's Grove, and in October of the same year entered the 
farm where he settled and which he still owns. The Conger 
family also settled at Stout's Grove during the same year. In 
March of this year the Messer family came to Mackinaw tim- 
ber. During this year Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes organized the 
first church in McLean County at his house in Blooming Grove. 

It may be a matter of curiosity to readers to know how 
Blooming Grove received its name. It was called Keg Grove 
and Hendrix Grove and sometimes Dawson's Grove. There is 
a story that the Indians found a keg of whiskey which had been 
cached, and that this gave the name which the grove bore for 
many years. But this story is not well authenticated. The 



8 SKETCH OF 

name was afterwards changed to Blooming, on account of 
the flowers and foliage of the maple trees in spring-time. 
This name was suggested by two different parties at about the 
same time. Mrs. William Orendorff suggested to some ladies, 
who were visiting her, that the grove should be called Bloom- 
ing Grove. At nearly the same time John Rhodes and Thomas 
Orendorff were out in the woods writing letters, and Rhodes 
asked what name they should write at the head of their letters. 
Thomas Orendorff looked up at the maple trees and said : "It 
looks blooming here, I think we had better call it Blooming 
Grove." 

At the opening of the year 1830 the country was sparsely 
settled, indeed it could hardly be said to be settled at all. 
There were only three houses between Blooming Grove and 
Mackinawtown ; and between the latter place and the present 
village of Pleasant Hill were no houses at all. At that time 
the most hopeful of the old settlers only dared to think that the 
country would be settled in the edges of the timber, that a cor- 
don of farms would be made around each grove. 

In January, 1830, Jesse Havens and family settled in what 
has since been called Havens' Grove. In the fore part of the 
same year Benjamin Wheeler also settled there. In the spring 
of 1830 John Smith settled at Smith's Grove, and two years af- 
terwards moved to Havens' Grove. During the previous spring 
of 1829 James Allin came to Blooming Grove from Vandalia 
for the purpose of merchandising. This was a great accession, 
for the influence which this man exerted was of the greatest 
importance to McLean County. 

In the year 1830 the people of Blooming Grove and many 
surroundino- settlements determined to have a countv cut off 
from Tazewell. The idea was not favored by the people of 
Mackinawtown, the county seat of Tazewell County. But 
James Allin and many others were active in circulating petitions. 
These petitions were taken to Vandalia during that same 
year by Thomas Orendorff and James Latta. The speaker of 
the house, William Lee D. Ewing, interested himself in the 
matter, but Orendorff and Latta were obliged to wait several 
days before their petitions could be attended to. At last Mr. 
Ewinjj called the two srentlemen to his room and asked what the 



M LEAN COUNTY. 9 

name of the county should be. James Latta wished it called 
Hendricks County after Mr. Hendricks of Indiana. But Mr- 
Ewing remarked that it was dangerous to name it after any liv- 
ing man; for no one's reputation was safe until he had gone to 
his grave. The man whom they chose to honor might do some- 
thing mean, and the people would wish the name of the county 
changed. Mr. Ewing then proposed to call it McLean County 
after John McLean, who had been speaker of the lower house 
of the Assembly, had been a representative in Congress and 
United States Senator. This proposition was agreed to, and the 
bill passed the low T er house in the forenoon of that day and the 
Senate in the afternoon. Ford's History of Illinois says of John 
McLean: " He was very prominent in the politics of Illinois. 
He was several times elected to the legislature, once elected to 
the lower house of Congress, and twice to the United States 
Senate, and died a member of that body in 1830. He was natu- 
rally a great, magnanimous man and a leader of men. The 
county of McLean was named in honor of him." McLean 
County was at that time much larger than at present. It was 
bounded on the north by the Illinois River; on the east by 
Range six east of the Third Principal Meridian ; on the south 
by the south line of Township Twenty-one north, and on the 
west by Range One west of the Third Principal Meridian. 

The winter of 1830 and '31 was the celebrated winter of the 
deep snow. The weather during the fall had been very dry, 
and continued mild until late in the winter. But at last the 
snow came during the latter part of December ; and such a 
snow has never since been known. The settlers were blockaded 
in their cabins and could do very little except pound their corn, 
cut their wood and keep their fires blazing. A great deal of 
stock was frozen to death during this terrible winter. The deer 
and wild turkeys, which had been very numerous, were almost 
exterminated. The wolves, on the other hand, had a pleasant 
time of it. They played around over the snow, caught all the 
deer they wished, and were bold and impudent. The stories of 
this deep snow would fill a large volume, and in the sketches 
of this work are found the experience of many pioneers, who 
lived during the cold winter in their snow-bound huts. It has 
been impossible to learn precisely the depth of the snow during 



10 SKETCH OF 

this winter. As the snow fell it drifted, and other snows fell 
and other drifts were made. Many measurements were taken 
in the timber, but even here great errors were likely to occur, 
for the snow after falling soon settled. The settlers vary in their 
statements, some of them placing the depth at a little less than 
three feet, and some at more than four feet. In the spring of 
1831, when the snow melted, the face of the country was cov- 
ered with water. The little creeks became great rivers, and all 
intercourse between the settlers was stopped; for people could 
have traveled better with steamboats than with ox teams. The 
spring was backward and the crops were sown late. Neverthe- 
less a fair crop of wheat was harvested; but the corn, upon 
which the settlers depended most, was bitten by the early frosts 
in the fall. 

In 1881 the seat of justice of McLean County was located 
at the north end of Blooming Grove, on land given by James 
Allin for the purpose of founding the town of Bloomington. 
The location was made by commissioners appointed by the legis- 
lature. These commissioners also appointed Thomas Orendorff 
the first assessor. His assessment was made roughly on what 
each person was worth, without specifying the property particu- 
larly, and it was completed in thirteen days. 

The business of McLean County was transacted by a board of 
three commissioners. The first meeting of the Commissioners' 
Court was held May 16, 1831. The members present were Jona- 
than Cheney, Timothy B. Hoblit and Jesse Havens. Isaac 
Baker was appointed first clerk of Court and held this office for 
many years. The first tax levied by this Court was one-half of 
one per cent. But though this tax was small, it was severely felt 
by the settlers, much more so than heavy taxes at the present 
day. Thomas Orendorff was appointed the first treasurer of 
McLean County. It may perhaps interest the curious to know 
of the first marriage solemnized in McLean County after its or- 
ganization. It was between Robert Rutledge and Charity Weed- 
man, and the ceremony was performed on the ninth of June, 
1831, by Nathan Brittin, Justice of the Peace. 

The year 1831 was particularly celebrated for the fever and 
ague. A great deal of rich soil was turned over for the first 
time, and the vapors and exhalations made the climate tin- 



m'lean county. 11 

healthy. Mr. Esek Greenman says that out of twenty-four per- 
sons belonging to three families, twenty-three had the ague. It 
was as much to be expected as harvest or the changes of the 
seasons. It was a disease to be dreaded because of its effect 
upon the mind as well as upon the physical system. It induced 
a feeling of despondency, and took away that spirit of enter- 
prise and that strong will, which bore up the settlers under mis- 
fortune. For many years the fever and ague was the scourge of 
the West, and was one of the severest hardships. 

In September, 188 1, the Methodists held their first camp- 
meeting at Randolph's Grove. Rev. Peter Cartwright, [lev. 
Mr. Latta and others preached there. Mr. Cartwright was very 
sensitive to the criticisms of Eastern men, and said : " They 
represent this country as a vast waste, and people as very ignor- 
ant; but if I was going to shoot a fool, I would not take aim at 
a Western man, but would go down by the sea-shore and cock 
my fusee at the imps who live on oysters." Mr. Latta preached 
directly at popular vices and was particularly severe on horse- 
racing. He said : " There is a class of people, who can not go 
to hell fast enough on foot, so they must get on their poor, mean 
pony and go to the horse-race. Even professors of religion are 
not guiltless in this respect, but go under the pretense that they 
want to see such a man or such a man, but they know in their 
own hearts that they want to see the horse-race." 

The year 1832 was the one in which the Black Hawk War 
occurred, a full account of which is given in this volume. 

Among the old settlers were to be found some soldiers of 
the Revolution. The following is taken from the records of 
the County Commissioners' Court for December, 1832 : 

"John Scott came into open Court and on his oath made a 
declaration purporting to prove himself a revolutionary soldier, 
for the purpose of obtaining the benefit of the act of Congress, 
passed June the 7th, A. D. 1832. The Court is of opinion, 
after the investigation of the matter and putting the interroga- 
tories prescribed by the war department, that the said Scott's 
declaration is correct and that he is a revolutionary soldier." 
Eight other revolutionary soldiers were certified by the Court as 
being such. They were Ebenezer Barnes, William McGhee, 
Thomas Sloan, Edward F. Patrick, Charles Moore, William 
Vincent, Edward Da}- and John Tolidav. 



12 SKETCH OF 

The records of the Court also show another peculiar law, 
which has been done away with. The following is taken from 
the record of the June Term, 1835 : 

"This day William T. Major presents a bond of one thou- 
sand dollars, payable to T. B. Hoblit, Seth Baker and Andrew 
McMillin, County Commissioners, and their successors in office, 
conditioned that a negro girl named Rosanna Johnson, late a 
slave in the state of Kentucky, shall not become a charge on 
any county in this state, &c. The Court accepts- of the said 
bond and orders the same to be put on file for the benefit of the 
said counties and also for the said Rosanna." 

James Miller also gave his bond for a mulatto boy, Henry 
Clay, whom Miller had brought from Kentucky. 

In 1832 the accessions to McLean County, and especially to 
Bloomington, were so great that a second addition was made to 
the latter place by James Allin. In 1833 the first race track 
was laid out. Four horses were ridden in the first race. They 
were the Bald Hornet, owned by Henry Jacoby and ridden by 
Esek Greenman; the Gun Fannon, owned by Jake Heald ; 
Tiger Whip, owned by Peter Hefner and ridden by James Paul, 
and Ethiopian, owned by a man near Waynesville. The race 
was won by Tiger Whip. 

The prices of produce, of wheat, corn, &c, were in early 
days sometimes very high, and at other times correspondingly 
low. Corn was sometimes a dollar a bushel, and sometimes 
only ten cents. In 1833 prices were very low. Corn sold for 
ten cents a bushel, oats for eight cents, wheat for thirty-one 
cents, Hour for $1.50 per hundred weight, pork for §1.25, and 
wood for one dollar per cord. 

In 1834 the settlement of the country was such that people 
began to calculate where to lay out the villages, which, with the 
development of the country, would one day become towns and 
cities. The village of Clarksville was laid oft' in July, 1834, by 
Joseph and Marston C. Bartholomew. During this year the 
census of Bloomington was taken by Allen Withers, and the 
little town numbered one hundred and eighty inhabitants. In 
1835 the influx of settlers continued. The state of Illinois had 
in 1818 a population of about 45,000 ; in 1830 it had a popula- 
tion of 157,447; but in 1835 the people of the state numbered 



m'lean county. 13 

about 250,000. In November, 1835, the town of LeKoy was 
laid out by Covel and Gridley. The year 1836 was marked by 
a grand rush of settlers to Illinois. Many pamphlets had been 
circulated among the people of the Eastern States, and the great 
resources of the West became everywhere known. The settlers 
came in every possible way. They crowded the steamboats on 
the rivers; they came on horseback, with ox teams, or on foot; 
everywhere they were coming. Scarcely any accommodations 
could be prepared for them, and they lived in their wagons or 
tents, or crowded into the little log cabins, which were hastily 
built. They made settlements singly or by companies. It was 
during this year that the Hudson and Mt. Hope Companies were 
formed. The Hudson Company was formed at Jacksonville, 
and the articles of agreement were drawn up in February, 1836. 
Horatio N. Pettit, John Gregory and George F. Purkitt were 
chosen a committee to enter and locate the land. Twenty-one 
sections were entered in the name of Horatio N". Pettit, and 
through him the colonists trace their title. The land was loca- 
ted at Haven's Grove, and was surveyed by Major Dickason, 
the county surveyor, assisted by John Magoun and S. P. Cox. 
The town of Hudson was laid out, and the choice of lots was 
made on the fourth of July, 1836. During this year little towns 
were laid out everywhere. In January the town of Lexington 
was laid out by A. Gridley and J. Brown, and in December fol- 
lowing an addition was made by Edgar Conkling. In February, 
1836, Concord (now Danvers) was laid out by Isaac W. Hall 
and Matthew Robb. During the same month the town of Lytle- 
ville was laid out by John Baldwin, and an addition was made 
in the following March. Wilkesborough was laid out in June 
by James 0. Barnard. The growth of Bloomington kept pace 
with the development of the country and its population increased 
to four hundred and fifty. During this year additions were laid 
out, known as White's, Miller and Foster's, Allin, Gridley and 
Prickett's and Evans'. 

The Mt. Hope colony was formed by a company chartered b} r 
the state of Rhode Island, under the name of the Providence 
Farmers' & Mechanics' Emigrating Society. In December, 1836, 
the company entered eight thousand acres of land very nearly 
in the shape of a square, and as it had twenty-five shares, each 



14 SKETCH OF 

share-holder was entitled to three hundred and twenty acres of 
land. The land entered by the Mt. Hope colony comprises near- 
ly all of the present township of Mt. Hope. In the summer of 
1837 General William Peck, one of the originators of the scheme, 
came out and surveyed the land and laid out the village of Mt. 
Hope. 

The month of December, 1836, was marked by a sudden 
change in the weather, more remarkable, perhaps, than the great 
winter of the deep snow. The weather had been mild for some 
time, and rain had been falling, changing the snow to slush, 
when suddenly a cold wind-storm came and lowered the temper- 
ature instantly from about forty degrees above zero to twenty 
degrees below. The face of the country was changed from 
water to ice immediately and, as Rev. Mr. Peasley said, appeared 
like a picture of the Polar regions. Squire Buck, of Empire 
township, took some notes of this wind-storm, and says that it 
came from the west to the Mississippi, which it reached at ten 
o'clock a. m., that it continued eastward and reached Leroy at 
three o'clock p. m., and Indianapolis at about eleven. It there- 
fore moved from the Mississippi River to Leroy at the rate of 
thirty miles an hour, and from Leroy to Indianapolis at the rate 
of twenty miles an hour. 

After the year 1836 the great rush of settlers to the West was 
over. In 1837 the United States' bank suspended, and the spirit 
of enterprise was checked. The rage for laying out towns was 
stopped, for the little villages, which were brought into being, 
refused to grow. In February, 1839, Conkling and Wood laid 
out an addition to Leroy, and in April, 1840, Pleasant Hill was 
laid out by Isaac Smalley. 

The great coon-skin and hard cider campaign, when General 
Harrison was elected President, was in 1840. The Democratic 
party was represented by the cock, and the Whigs by the coon. 
During that campaign the Whigs took an enormous canoe to a 
mass-meeting at Springfield. The excitement rose to the highest 
point. 

The failure of the United States' bank and the closeness of 
money did not affect the West as soon as the East ; but the com- 
mercial distress slowly and surely worked westward. In 1842 
the condition of things was frightful, worse than has ever since 



m'lean county. 



15 



been known. During that year Judge McClun took to the Easl 
some pork, which be had received in payment for goods, and he 
says: "If the West was prostrate, the Easl was in oven a worse 
fix. Commercial distress was everywhere seen. Failures were 
an hourly occurrence, and the only reliable money, gold and sil- 
ver, was locked up. Factories had stopped and their goods were 
thrown on the market at ruinous prices. My pork could not be 
sold to realize even the cost of transportation." During this 
year a number of the settlers concluded to collect their pigs in 
a "bunch" and drive them to Chicago themselves, for they could 
not believe that the price offered by drovers was really that of 
the Chicago market. But these misguided settlers received for 
their pork, after paying expenses, about twenty-five cents per 
hundred. They were much wiser after this experiment. The 
settlement of the country was for many years at a stand-still. A 
great deal of land, which had been entered for a dollar and a 
quarter per acre, was thrown upon the market and could be 
bought for seventy -five cents or a dollar per acre. It was not 
until about the year 1846 or '47 that the condition of things was 
very greatly improved. Nevertheless the country was still un- 
settled to a great extent, except around the groves. Prairie land 
could be entered until the land office closed to allow the com- 
pany, which was to build the Illinois Central Railroad, to se- 
lect its land. This was in 1850, when the charter was granted. 
It was then seen that prairie land would rise in value, and as 
soon as the land office was re-opened, all the prairie within many 
miles of the railroad was entered immediately. After the build- 
ing of the Illinois Central and the Chicago & Alton Railroads 
the country became rapidly settled. Cars were running on both 
of these roads in 1852, and soon little towns sprang up and 
grew rapidly. The town of Towanda was laid off by Peter II. 
Badeau of St. Louis, and Jesse W. Fell, in December, 1854. 
The town of Heyworth was laid off in 1855. In June of the 
same year the town of McLean was laid off by Franklin Price. 
In March, 1856, the town of Saybrook was laid off by Isaac M. 
Polk. Some indication of the rapid development of the coun- 
try is seen in the censuses of Bloomington. In 1850 the city 
contained sixteen hundred and eleven persons; but in 1855 it 



16 SKETCH OF 

contained five thousand. The growth of the county in numbers 
and wealth has been continuous and steady. 

On the third of November, 1857, McLean County voted to 
adopt township organization by a large majority. The hard 
times of 1857 gave a temporary check to the growth of the 
country, but it was only temporary. 

The presidential campaign of 1860 and the war which fol- 
lowed are so recent and fresh in the mind of the reader, that 
it is not necessary to dwell upon them here. 

The building of the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western 
and the Lafayette, Bloomington and Mississippi Railroads as- 
sisted very greatly in developing the country by bringing the 
markets nearer to the people along their routes. 

Since the organization of McLean County in 1830, it has 
been much reduced in size as other counties have been formed. 
It now contains about eleven hundred and forty-seven square 
miles of land. It is bounded on the north by Woodford and 
Livingston Counties, on the east by Livingston, Ford and Cham- 
paign Counties, on the south by DeWitt County and a small part 
of Logan, and on the west by Tazewell County and a little of 
Woodford. The Toledo, Peoria and Wabash Railroad cuts 
through the northern edge of the county, forming the enter- 
prising villages of Gridley, Chenoa and Weston. The first 
mentioned was named in honor of General Gridley of Bloom- 
ington. The Gilman, Clinton and Springfield Railroad cuts 
through the south-eastern corner of McLean County, and the 
station of Bellefllower has sprung up on the line. The county 
is now well supplied with railroads, and if it could keep down 
the pace of transportation the people would indeed be blessed. 
The " railroad question " is the one upon which the people must 
exercise their wits for many years to come. The future pros- 
perity of the people of McLean County is not doubted for a mo- 
ment. All the opportunities for acquiring wealth are here, and 
the people are disposed to take advantage of them. 

As a part of the history of McLean County, the following 
statistics of the schools are given as furnished bv John Hull, 
County Superintendent : 



M LEAN COUNTY. 



17 



SCHOOL STATISTICS OF McLEAN COUNTY, FOR THE YEAR ENDING 
SEPTEMBER 30th, 1873. 



Name of 
Township. 



Mt. Hope 

Funk's Grove.... 

Randolph 

Downs 

Empire 

West 

Bellflower 

Allin 

Dale 

Bloomington 

Old Town 

Padua 

Arrowsmith 

Cheney's Grove. 
Danvers (24 N.) 

Dry Grove 

Normal 

Towanda 

Blue Mound 

Martin 

Cropsey (24 N.) 
Danvers (25 N.) 

White Oak 

Hudson 

Money Creek ... 

Lexington 

Lawndale 

Cropsey (25 N.) 
Gridley (2 E.).„ 
Gridley (3 E.).„ 

Chenoa 

Yates 

DISTRICTS. 

Kickapoo Union 
Hey worth Scho'l 
City of Normal. 
CityBloomingt'n 



u « 

.OH 



Sr-S 



71 



442 
250 
320 
371 
536 
347 
252 
434 
380 
319 
206 
380 
427 
444 
416 
400 

173 

251 

294 
167 
161 
73 
116 
329 
229 
550 
227 
C 

182 
306 
517 
324 



194 
430 
,247 



2< 



~ o 

— • o 



551 
133 
481 
375 

788 
407 
377 
390 
341 
718 
395 
486 
459 
488 
542 
450 
248 
388 
385 
273 
252 
73 
137 
427 
359 
784 
284 
100 
212 
365 
610 
362 



* 

IS 



H 



6,165 
2,515 
6,898 
3,211 
6,276 
4,898 
5,859' 
4,436 
3,974 
5,575 
2,483 
5,152 
3,714 
5,595 
3,960 
5,571 
3,485 
5,814 
4,200 
2,180 
3,693 
848 
1,501 
2,996 
3,409 
9,363 
4,149 
1,513 
2,522 
3,687 
15,386 
5,194 



96$ 
60 1 
15 

28 
75 

88 
30 j 

74] 

19 

92 

63 

13 

17, 

59 

40 

10 

61 

33! 

62 

50 

24 

22! 

91 B 

31 

06 

(id 

22 

68 
64 
00 
22 

11 



115 
232 

843 i 

4,981: 



729 37 

2,200 79 

12,685 74 

72,290 52 



o s 

— ~ 
Oft 

a /. 

■r a 



4,814 00 
6,042 0G 
3,462 29 
3,700 65 
7,767 57 
3,643 97 
10*078 12 
3,834 59 
2.762 96 
6,090 59 
2,683 51 
3,685 39 
6,281 48 
2,380 00 
2,904 30 
3,140 50 
7,074 94 
3,168 88 
9,252 08 
3,478 00 
15,340 50 

A 
2,782 25 
3,636 65 
3,124 00 
3,486 58 
3,664 03 

C 

A 
6,570 18 
9,944 88 
9.115 98 



1,105 00 
D 
D 
D 



252 13,T86 18,879 $234,141 88 $155,015 93 $22,397 29 l,;;25,.s!i2 



4) 0) 



643 85 
359 45 
895 86 
443 98 
919 56 

477 95 
402 11 
510 34 
428 18 
726 80 
381 57 
546 68 
410 01 
555 37 
582 23 
562 48 
295 46 
492 17 

478 74 
312 05 
196 71 

91 64 
184 86 
522 98 
424 23 
927 46 
373 67 
187 23 

• 304 94 
509 55 

1,080 72 
488 22 



150 10 
E 
812 12 

5,718 02 



* if 



45,890 
9,415 
23,251 
24,112 
46,955 
23,376 
17,449 
23,227 
24,802 
2ft, 202 
16,263 
25,177 
1S,225 
23,430 
29,144 
27,576 
11,200 
2.1,721 
24,281 
12,700 
7,181 
2,989 
7.784 
25,782 
20,034 
67,592 
11,664 
6,837 
13,355 
20,000 
58.289 
29,454 



6,337 

20,148 

60 000 

487,050 



A. Reported to Woodford County. 

B. Fund of whole Township. 

C. Reported to Livingston County. 

D. Receive semi-annually their portion of the interest on the funds of the town- 
ships of which they form a part. 

E. Included in amount reported above for Randolph Township. 
The foregoing statistics are from the records in my office. 



Bloomington, January 5th, 1874. 

2 



JNO. HULL, County Superintendent, 

McLean Courtly, 111 . 



STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 



Illinois is a growing State, and its people have from its early 
settlement been conscious of its great destiny. In order to 
build up the educational interests of the State it was deter- 
mined, at an early day, to have a Normal School for the educa- 
tion of teachers. In accordance with an act of the legislature 
of February 18, 1857, the State Board of Education proceeded 
to receive bids from the various towns of the State for the loca- 
tion of the school. The county of McLean, and various indi- 
viduals living in it and the city of Bloomington,- offered by far 
the greatest inducements. Meshach Pike, Joseph Payne, E. W. 
Bakewell and Judge David Davis, gave one hundred and sixty 
acres of land, and its public and private subscriptions amounted 
to one hundred and forty-one thousand dollars. The county 
itself subscribed seventy thousand dollars, to be obtained from 
the sale of swamp lands. In May, 1857, the school was located 
at Normal, on the land donated for that purpose. Plans and 
drawings for building were immediately called for and fur- 
nished by Mr. G. P. Randall of Chicago, architect and super- 
intendent of University buildings. 

Mr. Charles E. Hovey was elected Principal of the Univer- 
sity, and immediately issued circulars announcing that it would 
be opened in Bloomington on the first Monday in October, 
1857. The object of the Normal School was clearly seen in the 
conditions imposed upon the students and published in this 
circular. The qualifications were : 

1. To be, if males, not less than seventeen ; and if females, 
not less than sixteen years of age. 

2. To produce a certificate of good moral character, signed 
by some responsible person. 



20 STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 

3. To sign a declaration of their intention to devote them- 
selves to school-teaching in this State. 

4. To pass a satisfactory examination before the proper 
officers in Reading, Spelling, "Writing, Arithmetic, Geography 
and the elements of English Grammar. Each county and each 
representative district was entitled to one student in the school. 

On the fifth of October, 1857, at the time advertised, the 
school was opened in Major's Hall, which was fitted up for that 
purpose. There were at the opening forty-three students. As 
all of the counties and representative districts did not avail 
themselves of the privilege of sending students, the principal 
was authorized to receive candidates on examination and in 
compliance with the qualifications published in the circular. 

The Normal School at the very outset showed its value and 
took a high standing among the educational institutions of the 
country. Its principal professor, Charles E. Hovey, (afterwards 
General Hovey), was a man of great energy and the best of 
judgment. In the year 1860 the splendid University building 
was completed, and the Normal School entered on its course of 
uninterrupted prosperity. During this year, in the month of 
June, the first commencement exercises were held in the new 
building. 

Like all the educational establishments of the country, the 
Normal School was affected by the war to suppress the rebel- 
lion. Ten of its teachers entered the army, and among them 
was the honored principal. Their example was followed by 
nearly all the young men in the University, and the Thirty-third 
Illinois, of which they formed so large a part, was known through- 
out the war as the Normal Regiment. President Hovey entered 
the army in 1861 as Colonel of the Normal Regiment and was 
afterwards made a general. Leander H. Potter was made a 
colonel in the army and is now president of the Soldier's Col- 
lege at Fulton. Dr. E. R. Roe was made a colonel in the army 
and is now a United States marshal. Ira Moore was a captain 
in the army and is now principal of the Normal School at St. 
Cloud, Minnesota. J. H. Burnham was made a captain and 
Aaron Gove an adjutant. Julian E. Bryant was made a lieuten- 
ant, and during the war was drowned on the Texan coast. 
Joseph G. Howell was made a lieutenant in the army, and was 



STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 21 

shot at Fort Donelson and buried in Bloomington Cemetery. 
Edwin Philbrook was made a sergeant, and Dr. Samuel Willard 
a surgeon. After President Hovey entered the army, the posi- 
tion of principal devolved temporarily upon Perkins Bass, Esq., 
of Chicago, who held it for one year and then yielded it to 
Richard Edwards, LL.D., who has held it until the present 
time. 

The aim of the Normal School, as before stated, is to educate 
teachers in the duties of their profession. 

Connected with the University is a Model School, which was 
started at the opening of the University in Major's Hall. It 
had a small beginning and was first taught by Miss Mary M. 
Brooks, a lady of remarkable talent. It has grown from this 
into the present large Model School, consisting of three depart- 
ments, in charge of four regular teachers, assisted by many of 
the Normal students. The range of instruction in the Model 
School is from the primary department to the course prepara- 
tory for college. Since the opening of the Model School it has 
been under the charge of many lady teachers, who have uni- 
formly given great satisfaction. One difficulty occurs with the 
employment of lady teachers; they will occasionally get married, 
and this is the cause of the many changes of instructors in the 
Model School. 

Connected with the Normal School is a Museum of Natural 
History, which is estimated to be worth about one hundred 
thousand dollars. This is indeed a fine collection of specimens, 
illustrating the various branches of Natural History. These 
collections have been made by Professor Wilber, Professor 
Powell, Dr. Vasey, Richard H. Holder, Esq., and others. The 
greater part of the stuffed birds were given by Mr. Holder. 
These gentlemen are enthusiastic workers in the field of Natural 
History, and, it would seem, have not always received the en- 
couragement and support they deserve from the State. They 
have been obliged, in a great measure, to bear their own ex- 
penses ; and certainly their services, rendered as they have been 
with the greatest enthusiasm, are out of all proportion to the 
pay they have received. The Museum is a great benefit, not 
only to the Normal School but to the entire State, as by means 
of it every school in the State is encouraged to make collections. 



22 STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 

The following extract from a circular, issued by Professor 
Forbes, the Curator of the Museum, shows its design and its 
value : 

" The recent introduction of the natural sciences into our 
common school course of study has developed a general demand 
for specimens in Natural History, which I am trying to supply. 
It is designed to furnish, in time, to every school in the State 
which will properly use and care for it, a small collection, so 
selected as to illustrate in the best possible manner the branches 
required to be taught. The time and resources at my command 
are quite insufficient for this ; and, as it is a work undertaken 
solely for the benefit of the public schools, I make this call upon 
their officers and members for aid. 

" The schools will encounter great difficulties in attempting 
to form good cabinets unaided, each for itself. Among others 
will be that of getting specimens correctly named, and that of 
securing, in a single circumscribed locality, a sufficient variety 
to fully cover the whole field of study. It will be an easy mat- 
ter, however, for the teachers and pupils of the State to collect 
and send to this Museum, in one or two seasons, a sufficient 
number and variety of specimens liberally to supply all our 
schools; and these I will undertake to name, select, arrange and 
re-distribute in such a manner as to give to each school partici- 
pating in the work the benefit of a judicious selection from the 
whole number sent by all. 

" Good specimens in all branches of Natural History will be 
acceptable, and directions for preparing and shipping them will 
be sent upon application." 

The cost of the Normal University to the State of Illinois is 
a matter of interest. President Edwards shows, in his decen- 
nial address, that all the money ever expended on the institution 
by the State is, up to the year 1870, $279,740.63, while the pro- 
perty belonging to it at that time and owned by the State 
amounted to $312,000, without including the Museum. "When 
we consider that the Museum is worth one hundred thousand 
dollars, it will be seen that the investment made by the State is 
a pretty good one, from a purely financial point of view. When 
we consider further, that the State has given comparatively little 
of its own moneyto the institution, but has exercised its gener- 



STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 23 

osity by expending the interest on a fund donated to this State 
for educational purposes, by Congress, in the year 1818; and 
when we consider, too, the very moderate salaries paid to the 
teachers of the institution, it certainly appears to an outsider 
that the enthusiasm of the friends of education is far in advance 
of the liberality of the State. We have yet to see an example 
of a State which has been too liberal in educational matters. 
When money is expended by a State for educational purposes, it 
is usually laid out by men who are devoted to the work. We 
have yet to hear of such a thing as an educational "ring." Vil- 
lainy has no sympathy with science. When much money is 
expended for schools, little money is required for penitentiaries. 
It may seem like a sweeping remark, but we think it is strictly 
within the bounds of truth, to say that there is no better way 
for the State to expend money, as a mere financial speculation, 
than to lay it out for schools. Capital always follows intelli- 
gence. It seems very singular, sometimes, that our legislators 
are a little slow to see these things ; but if the truth must be 
told, the explanation of the matter is, that teachers and friends 
of education do. not understand the wa} r s of politicians. 

It is the business of teachers to instruct and improve the 
students under their charge, and it will readily be seen that the 
tendency of the profession must be to elevate and improve those 
who earnestly devote themselves to it. 

It is not easy to over-estimate the value of the Normal School 
to the State of Illinois. Its graduates and students go out every- 
where to teach and to learn. The members of the faculty of the 
Normal School hold teachers' institutes annually at Normal, fre- 
quently attend county institutes, and by their example and expe- 
rience and earnestness in the profession in which they are en- 
gaged, do a great deal to elevate the tone of the teachers of 
Illinois, and point them to a higher standard of excellence. 

President Edwards. 

The principal of the Normal School is Richard Edwards, 
LL.D. He was born in Aberystwith, Cardiganshire, Wales, on 
tne twenty-third of December, 1822. I lis father was a stone 
and brick-mason, and his mother, whose maiden name was 
Jones, was the daughter of a small farmer. The family moved 



24 STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 

to the United States and settled in Ohio in the "Western Reserve, 
when 3'°ung Richard was a little more than ten years old. He 
was employed on a farm until he was sixteen, and from that time 
until he was twenty-two he worked as a house carpenter. Up 
to this time he had received very little education, but his turn 
of mind was seen in his love of books and his habit of reading 
in the evening by the light of " hickory bark." He was very 
anxious to obtain an education, and by some good fortune made 
the acquaintance of two graduates of Harvard, who advised him 
to go to that scholastic paradise, Massachusetts. He was told 
that " the culture which he so much yearned for was the staple 
in which Massachusetts dealt." He went there and communed 
for a while with the angels in the heaven of learning. He 
taught school at Hingham and at Waltham, Mass., and was a 
member of the Normal School at Bridgewater. In the spring 
of 1847 he went to Troy, New York, and became a student at 
the "Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute." Here he was for a short 
time an assistant teacher. It seems that he kept himself always 
employed. He was for a while a " roclman " on the Cochituate 
"Water "Works, which were then being built. In May of that 
year he became an assistant teacher in Bridgewater Normal 
School, of which he was a graduate. This school was super- 
intended by one of the best teachers of Massachusetts, the cele- 
brated Nicholas Tillinghast. Here Mr. Edwards remained 
until January, 1853, when he removed to Salem and took charge 
of the English High School there. Shortly afterwards he be- 
came the agent of the State Board of Education in visiting 
schools. For three years, he was principal of the State Normal 
School in Salem, Massachusetts. In October, 1857, he accepted 
the position of principal of the city Normal School of St. Louis. 
In June, 1862, he was made President of the Illinois State Nor- 
mal University, where he has remained ever since. 

Of course President Edwards has been obliged to go the way 
of all the earth and — get married. On the fifth of July, 1849, 
he married Miss Betsy J. Samson of Pembroke, Massachusetts. 
Her father, Mr. Thomas Samson, is still living in that town. 
They have had eleven children, ten of whom are still living. 

As will be seen from the foregoing sketch, Mr. Edwards has 
received his education in a very irregular manner, which he does 
not think is very advantageous. 



STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 25 

He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard College and 
the degree of LL. D. from " a less illustrious, but still very 
honest source, viz: ShurtlefF College, Alton, 111." 

President Edwards is a man of medium stature, and is very 
intellectual in his appearance. His manner is always pleasant, 
and he loves the profession in which he is engaged. When he 
smiles, he shows by the expression of his eyes that he is tickled 
at something. Profound thought has frightened the hair from 
the crown of his head. He can endure a great deal of intellec- 
tual labor; and it seems that he is now occupying the place for 
which Providence designed him. 

Members of the Faculty. 

Edwin C. Hewett, Professor of History, was born in Wor- 
cester County, Massachusetts, in November, 1828. He gradu- 
ated at the State Normal School in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 
in 1852 ; the school was then in charge of Mr. Tillinghast. In 
January, 1853, Mr. Hewett became an assistant teacher at 
Bridgewater, where he remained for nearly four years. In the 
fall of 1858 he entered upon his duties as teacher in the Normal 
University, which have since been interrupted only by one year's 
absence by permission of the Board of Education. In 1863 he 
received the complimentary degree of A. M. from the Univer- 
sity of Chicago. His long and useful services as a teacher place 
him among the first of his most honored profession. 

Joseph Addison Sewall, M. D., 

Professor of Natural Science, was born in Scarborough, 
Maine, in 1830. He graduated from the Medical School of Har- 
vard University in 1852. In 1854 he came West and taught 
and practiced his profession in Bureau and LaSalle Counties. 
He graduated in the Scientific Department of Harvard Univer- 
sity in the summer of 1860. In the fall of the same year he en- 
tered upon his duties at Normal, where he has remained until 
the present time. Professor Sewall has that enthusiastic love of 
natural science which has recently led to many interesting and 
useful discoveries. 



26 state normal university. 

Thomas Metcalp. 

Thomas Metcalf, Professor of Mathematics, was born in 
Wrentham, Massachusetts, in 1826. He graduated from the 
Normal School at Bridgewater, Mass., in 1848, under Mr. Til- 
linghast. After leaving the Normal School he taught in Charles- 
town and West Roxbury, Mass., for several years. He came to 
St. Louis in 1857, and entered upon his duties as instructor in 
the High School. From St. Louis he came to Normal, in the 
summer of 1862, and has since been constantly at his work of 
teaching in the University, with the exception of a few months 
in the spring of 1871, while making a trip to Europe. Like all 
the other members of the Normal faculty he loves his profes- 
sion, and it is this which leads him to excel. 

Albert Stetson. 

Albert Stetson, Professor of Languages, was born in Kings- 
ton, Mass., in 1834. He graduated from the Bridgewater Nor- 
mal School in the spring of 1853. After teaching for three 
years he entered Harvard University, from which he graduated 
in 1861. He taught in Provincetown, Mass., until the fall of 
1862, when he came to Normal and entered on the duties of the 
chair which he now fills. He has been very efficient as a teacher 
and thoroughly understands the duties of his position. 

John W. Cook. 

Professor John "W. Cook was born in Woodford County, 
Illinois, in 1844. He graduated at the Normal University, in 
1865, and entered upon his present duties, as member of the 
Faculty, in 1868. 

Henry McCormick. 

Professor Henry McCormick was born in Ireland, in 1837. 
He graduated at the Normal University, in 1868, and became a 
member of the Faculty in 1869. 

Miss Myra Osband. 

Miss Myra Osband became Preceptress of the University in 
January, 1871, having previously been engaged in teaching at 
different places in New York and Illinois. This accomplished 
lady excels as a teacher and thoroughly understands her delicate 
and responsible duties. 



STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. 27 

The members of the Normal Faculty take the greatest pride 
in the University which they have helped to so high a standing, 
among similar establishments, in the United States. It is well 
known that the majority, and perhaps all of them, could obtain 
larger salaries elsewhere, and some very tempting otters have 
been made to them, but they still remain at their posts. 

E. W. Coy. 

Professor E. "W. Coy, Principal of the High School in the 
Model Department, graduated at Brown University in 1858. He 
took charge of the Peoria High School in the fall of 1858, which 
position he resigned in 1871, when he came to Normal. But his 
service in the Peoria High School was not continuous from 1858 
to 1871, as during that time he spent some time in practicing 
law and in superintending the public schools of Peoria. 

Miss Martha D. L. Haynie. 

Miss Martha D. L. Haynie, Assistant in High School, is a na- 
tive of Kentucky, although most of her life has been spent in 
Illinois. Her experience as a teacher has been long and varied. 

B. W. Baker. 

B. W. Baker, Principal of the Grammar School, was born in 
Coles County, Ills., November 25, 1841. He was raised on a 
farm. At the age of twenty he entered the army and served 
from 1861 to 1864 in the 25th Ills. Volunteers. He was wounded 
at Pea Ridge and afterwards at Perryville. He was at the siege 
of Corinth, at the battles of Resaca, Dalton, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Kingston, Noonday Creek, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta. He 
was discharged in 1864. He entered the Normal University, 
from which he graduated in 1870. He then entered upon his 
duties as principal of the Grammar School, and still holds that 
position. 

The little Primary School is a gem ; to many visitors it is the 
most interesting department of the whole University. It is now 
in charge of Miss Gertie Case, a graduate of the Model High 
School. Miss j Case entered upon her present work in the fall of 
1872 ; previous to that time she had won an enviable reputation 
in the public schools of Bloomington and Normal. 




STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY 



THE SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME. 



The following, taken from the second biennial report of the 
Soldiers' Orphans' Home, explains and describes the institution 
and its object very clearly : 

" The institution was incorporated by an Act of the General 
Assembly, approved February 16th, 1865, and subsisted entirely 
upon private charity, until by an Act approved March 5th, 
1867, a certain fund in the hands of the Governor, known as 
the "deserters' fund," was donated to the Home, and farther 
appropriations made. 

" The Home is located on a high and commanding tract of 
land, donated by the Hon. David Davis, Judge of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, adjoining the thriving village of 
Normal, at the crossing of the Illinois Central and Chicago & 
Alton Railroads. A better selection could hardly have been 
made — beautiful, healthy, with fine railroad and educational 
advantages, it being the seat of the State Normal University. 

"The building is a splendid structure, 140 by 80 feet, built in 
the Romanesque style of architecture, three stories of brick, 
with a basement of stone, surmounted by a fine dome. It is 
plain but substantial in finish, more attention being given to 
such arrangements as would secure the comfort and health of 
its inmates. 

" The school building is a new brick structure, a short dis- 
tance from the Home proper. It contains six large rooms, 
furnished with the most improved equipments. One of the 
rooms is devoted to library and reading purposes, where a large 
number of the best papers and periodicals are kept on file. 

" The persons entitled to the benefits of the Home are the indigent 
children (under fourteen years of age) of all soldiers who have 
served in the armies of the Union during the late rebellion, 
and have been disabled from disease or wounds therein, or have 
died or been killed during such service. 



30 THE SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME. 

" Blank forms for admission to the Home will be furnished at 
any time on application, by letter or otherwise, to Virginia C. 
Ohr, Superintendent Soldiers' Orphans' Home, at Normal, Mc- 
Lean County, Illinois. 

Total number of children admitted to the Home, since its 

organization 642 

Number returned to their friends or good homes provided 

by "trustees 356 

Number of boys who have run away 6 

Total number who have died 5 

Number remaining in the institution at date of report 275 

642 642 

Total number of females admitted to the Home since its 

organization 275 

Number of males admitted 367 

Total 642 

Average daily attendance 290 

Expense per capita, per annum $144 63 

" " per month 12 05 

" " per day 40 

" This includes cost of subsistence, salaries of officers, teach- 
ers and other employes ; in short, all expenses of the Home. 

" "We have very few special rules for the discipline and gov- 
ernment of the children, and these are made as emergencies 
arise ; acting upon the principle that a few rules, well kept, are 
of far greater value than many broken and trampled on. The 
law which guides and directs is that of love and kindness, par- 
taking as much as possible of the parental character. While 
the most implicit obedience to all rules and regulations is re- 
quired of each and every child, yet they are constrained to do 
so by direct appeals to their better natures ; by pointing out to 
them their social and moral obligations, one to another; by 
giving them aid and encouragement in their efforts to do right. 
They are, generally speaking, kind to each other, obedient to 
those in charge and industrious." 



NEWSPAPERS. 



The first newspaper in m'lean county and the first editor. 

In 1836 Bloomington became a very "lively" little town and 
some of its citizens became anxious for a newspaper. General 
Gridley, who was then a merchant in Bloomington, was about to 
go to the East for his fall supply of goods, and he was instructed 
by Jesse "W. Fell and James Allin, who, with him, became pro- 
pi ietors, to lay in a stock of type, printing presses, compositors, 
editors, &c. He did so, and engaged Mr. William Hill and Mr. 
W. B. Brittain, of Philadelphia. These parties shipped their 
printing material during the fore part of October for Blooming- 
ton by way of New Orleans, St. Louis and Pekin. About a 
week afterwards Messrs. Hill and Brittain started, coming by 
way of Pittsburg, down the Ohio river, up the Mississippi and 
Illinois Rivers to Pekin, and thence across to Bloomington. The 
latter part of their journey was accomplished on horseback. At 
that time no bridge had been built across the Mackinaw, and as the 
stream was high, it was thought they would be obliged to swim 
their horses. Under this impression Mr. Brittain plunged in. 
As he was mounted on a small horse he was wet to the waist; 
but Mr. Hill, being on a large horse, stood on its back and went 
through dry shod. They arrived in Bloomington about eight 
o'clock that evening (October 25), Mr. Brittain nearly frozen and 
not favorably impressed with the unbridged water courses of 
Illinois. They remained in Bloomington for about two months 
without hearing anything of their printing material, and Mr. 
Brittain, becoming discouraged, disposed of his interest to Mr. 
Hill, and returned to Philadelphia. A few days after he left, 
word came that the material had reached Pekin. It was brought 
across to Bloomington by little Benjamin Depew, in a six-horse 
team, and on the first of January, 1837, it was arranged in an 



32 NEWSPAPERS. 

office which was fitted up in the northeast room of the old (then 
new) Court House. On the fourteenth of January the first 
number of the Bloomington Observer and McLean County Advocate 
was published. After carrying it on through many difficulties 
and vexations for one year, Mr. Hill sold out to Mr. Jesse W. 
Fell, who continued it about a year and a half and then disposed 
of it to other parties, who removed it to Peoria. Mr. Hill re- 
turned to Philadelphia in the spring of 1839, where he worked 
at the printing business, and did not return to the West until 
1849. At that time he located at St. Louis and there engaged in 
job printing. He was soon after joined by William Mc Kee, and 
they together purchased the office and paper of the Missouri 
Democrat. They afterwards purchased the office and paper of 
the St. Louis Union, united the two papers and continued them 
under the title of the Missouri Democrat, a Freesoil paper. After 
two or three years, politics becoming a good deal mixed, Mr. 
Hill became disgusted and sold out to F. P. Blair, Jr. and B. 
Gratz Brown. In 1855 he returned to McLean County, having 
purchased a small place a short distance northeast of the city. 
In the spring of 1860 he went with a party from McLean Coun- 
ty to the newly discovered gold mines in Colorado. After 
spending six or eight months in the mountains and vicinity and 
seeing the prairie dogs, jack rabbits, buffaloes, and big Indians, 
and watching the regular Sunday gladiatorial sports among the 
miners, in which pistols, bowie knives, &c, were in general use, 
and after getting a glimpse of the elephant as he passed down 
the Western slope, Mr. Hill and his party returned to their 
homes, satisfied that if the same means and exertions were used 
here, a fortune could be made about as quickly. 

Mr. Hill has for the last four years lived in Bloomington. He 
is now upwards of sixty years of age, healthy and active, and 
though in easy circumstances, continues to follow his business, 
preferring anything to idleness. 

Mr. Hill was born Nov. 18, 1811, in Cumberland County, New 
Jersey, where he received his education. He went into a print- 
ing office in Philadelphia at the age of fifteen, where he remained 
until he came West in 1836. Just before coming West he did 
as a good many other young men do when starting for a new 
country — was married. His children, two daughters and one 



NEWSPAPERS. ;>3 

son, are all happily married. lie has been, in political matters 
first a Whig and then a Republican. Mr. Hill is not a Large 
man, being rather less than the medium height. He has a wry 
intelligent and pleasing countenance, is a very pleasant writer 
and has a lively appreciation of the humorous. He is much 
respected and the first paper in McLean County under his man- 
agement must have been very popular. 

Bloomington Pantagraph. 

The first paper published in Bloomington was the Blooming- 
ton Observer and Ah-Lean County Advocate, the first number of 
which was issued January 14th, 1837. William Hill, now em- 
ployed as a compositor in the Pantagraph job office, was its edi- 
tor and publisher. It was a small, five column weekly, non- 
political. Mr. Hill published the Observer about a year, then 
sold it to Mr. Jesse W. Fell (now a resident of Xormal), who 
continued it about eighteen months. The paper was then dis- 
continued for about seven years. In 1846 Mr. C. P. Merriman 
(now of the Leader) revived the paper as the Western Whig. It 
was afterwards owned and conducted by Johnson & Underwood, 
Jesse W. Fell, and Merriman (C. P.) and Morris. Mr. Fell 
changed its name to the Intelligencer and Mr. Merriman invented 
for it the name of the Pantograph while he and Morris owned 
it together. The proprietors of the Pantagraph therefore con- 
sider it to be the oldest paper in the city, and regularly de- 
scended from the Bloomington Observer and McLean ( bunty Ad- 
vocate, which was published in 1837. 

The early numbers of The Observer speak of meetings called 
for the purpose of establishing a public library in Bloomington, 
but very little seems to have been done for such an undertaking. 
Market houses and water works were also discussed at that early 
day. The mails were carried to Peoria and Springfield twice a 
week, to all other points once a week, or not so often. Merriman 
& Morris issued a daily edition while the paper was in their hands, 
but this did not pay and it was soon discontinued. In 1855 the 
Pantagraph office was destroyed by the first great fire Bloomington 
ever experienced. It was then owned by Merriman A: Morris, 
who soon after sold it to William E. Foote, C. P. Merriman con- 



34 NEWSPAPERS. 

tinning to edit the paper for six months afterwards, or until June, 
1856, when Edward J. Lewis became its editor. Mr. Lewis con- 
tinued to edit the paper until January, 1860. During this pe- 
riod the daily was successfully started, the first number being 
issued February 23, 1857, and was published continuously during 
Mr. Foote's proprietorship. W. R. McCracken was local editor 
during the greater portion of the time. Franklin Price and 
Charles L. Steele also had charge of the local columns succes- 
sively. During this period (1858) the office was fired by an in- 
cendiary. But some compositors, who slept in a room below the 
office, were awakened by the barking of a dog kept by them, and 
they promptly extinguished the flames. This dog, called 
'■ Major," was a favorite in the office and remained a great pet 
until his death. His portrait was painted and kept hung up in 
the office for a long time (between the pictures of George Wash- 
ington and Florence Nightingale !) During Mr. Foote's pro- 
prietorship (1855 to 1860) the Pantagraph office became known 
throughout the West for the excellence of its job printing. Mr. 
Foote was a job printer of great skill and fine taste. In 1858 
specimens of the Pantagraph job printing took the first premium 
at the great St. Louis Fair, at the National Fair in Chicago the 
same year and at the Illinois State Fair. 

In the early part of 1860 the office was sold to Judge Merri- 
man, and his brother, C. P. Merriman, was made editor. The 
daily was discontinued but soon after revived. The paper was 
purchased early in 1861 by Carpenter & Steele, and E. J. Lew r is 
was again made editor and remained so until the breaking out 
of the war, when he entered the army, (August, 1861). It was 
then successively edited by H. B. Norton, Thomas Moore, Cap- 
tain J. H. Burnham, and others. The paper afterwards par- 
tially changed hands and was owned by Messrs. Carpenter, 
Steele, Briggs & Packard, and one of them, Rev. F. J. Briggs, 
was editor. The paper afterwards was sold to Scibird & Waters, 
who, after conducting it rather less than a year, sold it to a com- 
pany composed of Jesse W. Fell, W. O. Davis and James P. 
Taylor. Mr. Davis is now the sole proprietor. Under the pro- 
prietorship of Fell & Company the paper was edited for a while 
by Mr. B. F. Diggs, who was succeeded by Dr. E. R. Roe, who 
in turn was succeeded by E. J. Lewis a little more than two 



NEWSPAPERS. 35 

years ago. D. A. Ray has been local editor most of the time for 
several years. W. II. Whitehead was also assistant editor for a 
considerable time, and is now in charge of the local columns. 
Under the management of Mr. E. J. Lewis and Mr. W. H. 
Whitehead, the Pantagraph is very efficiently conducted in all of 
its departments. 

The job office of the Pantograph is one of the best in Illinois, 
and the job printing is remarkable for its good taste. German 
printing of all kinds, under the supervision of Mr. Bach, is exe- 
cuted in the best of style. 

The Leader [Daily and Weekly.) 
The Weekly Leader was started by John S. Scibird and Orin 
Waters, proprietors, and Elias Smith, editor, November 15, 1868, 
and soon attained to a fair circulation and influence. Its success 
became so flattering that on the twenty-second of February, 
1870, its proprietors began the publication of the Daily Leader, 
which is ably conducted and well supported. The political de- 
partment was edited by B. F. Diggs and C. P. Merriman suc- 
cessively, ind the local department by Thomas Moore, Elias 
Smith, B. F. Diggs, M. F. Leland and J. W. Nichols. The paper 
is now published by the Leader Company with Orin Waters as 
general manager and C. P. Merriman and J. W. Nichols as 
editors. The paper has always been Republican in politics and 
so continues. 

The Leader Company publish, in addition to their daily and 
weekly, the Alumni Journal, fifteen hundred copies per month ; 
the Little Watchman, a Sunday-school paper, seven thousand 
copies per week ; the Peal Estate Journal, two thousand per 
month. 

The Job Office of the Leader is large and well conducted 
under the supervision of Mr. E. P. Penniman, who displays the 
best of taste in everything pertaining to his department. 

The Anti-Monopolist ( Weekly). 

The Bloomington Democrat was started in Bloomington in 
April, 1868, by S. S. Parke, Esq. Previous to this the Demo- 
cratic party had attempted to establish a party organ, but failed, 
showing that with newspapers, as with all other matters, it is 



36 NEWSPAPERS. 

individual enterprise which brings success. This paper was 
Democratic in politics as its name indicates, but during the last 
campaign it strongly and effectively advocated the principles of 
the Liberal party. On the fourteenth of August, 1873, the edi- 
torial management of this paper went into the hands of Joseph 
Carter, and the paper became the Anti- Monopolist. This paper, 
on the 1st of January, was merged with the McLean County Anti- 
Monopolist, at Saybrook, which office has been moved to Bloom- 
ington, and the paper adopted the title of the Anti- Monopolist. 
It is now very ably edited, and its articles are frequently quoted 
in other papers. 

The Republican ( Weekly.) 

The Republican was started in Bloomington in 1866, by S. P. 
Remington and A. B. Holmes. It was Republican in politics 
and has remained so ever since. Its first editor was Major S. P. 
Remington. Its present proprietors are A. B. Holmes & Bro. 
It is a very pleasant, reliable paper and has the confidence of the 
community. 

Illinois Trade Journal. 

This paper was started in November, 1872, by Goff* & Hewitt, 
As it has recently been brought into existence, it has not yet 
made a history. It is a commercial paper, at present owned and 
edited by A. J. Goff, one of its founders. 

.Mr. Goff' formerly published the Bloomington Journal, which 
he started in January, 1868. This paper succeeded the McLean 
County Journal, which had been published by E. B. Buck. In 
November, 1868, the Bloomington Journal was sold to Scibird k 
Waters, in whose hands it was succeeded by the Leader. While 
Mr. Goff published the Journal he issued an edition of that paper 
in Normal, called the Review, for which Mr. Ray of the Para- 
graph acted as local editor. 

The Banner of Holiness. 

This paper was started October 5, 1872, b} 7 Homy Reynolds 
and Rev. John P. Brooks. It is purely a religious paper, and its 
conductors hope and believe that it is the means of doing much 
good. 



NEWSPAPERS. 37 

McLean County Deutsche Presse — {German Weekly.) 

The Presse was started by a company, of which the present 
editor and proprietor, Johannes Koester, was a member in 1871. 
He soon afterwards became sole editor and proprietor. During 
the last campaign the paper favored the Liberal movement. 

The Weekly Enterprise, of Lexington. 

The Enterprise was started on the first of January, 1873, by 
Charles M. King, who is editor and proprietor. It takes no 
sides in political matters as its editor does not consider it old 
enough to vote. 

Saybrook Banner. 

This paper was for a long time published in Lexington, but 
on the eighteenth of December, 1872. was removed to Saybrook. 
It was started by H. II. Parkinson and by him first edited. Mr. 
Parkinson is the present proprietor of the paper. Messrs. Sabin 
& Van Voris were for a time connected with this paper. It is 
independent in politics as well as in name. The paper stands 
high in point of ability and fairness. One thing connected 
with it is certainly very marvelous — "it is said that the people 
take a great interest in it." It must indeed be a very interesting 
paper. The Banner was changed to the McLean County Anti- 
Monopolist, and subsequently consolidated with the Anti-3T»nopo- 
list of Bloomington. 

Chenoa Times. 

The Chenoa Times was started in July, 1867, by McMurtrie & 
Dyer, editors and proprietors, under very flattering circum- 
stances, with a good subscription list. It was edited successively 
by McMurtrie & Dyer, Miss L. M. Dyer, Mr. C. M. King, Mr. C. 
E. Spore and John & Bovard. The latter are now its editors 
and proprietors. 



BLOOMINGTON. 



In the fall of 1829, James Allin came from Vandal ia, Fayette 
County, Illinois, to the north end of Blooming Grove and here 
opened a store. In the spring of 1830 he built a double log 
house, with one room for a dwelling and the other for a store. 
During that year a number of gentlemen took active measures 
to secure the location of acountyseatatthe north end of Bloom- 
ing Grove, and the legislature of 1830 and '31 passed the act for 
the formation of the county of McLean. A board of three 
commissioners was appointed to locate the county seat. They 
were Jonathan Pugh of Macon County, Lemuel Lee of Van- 
dalia, and a certain Mr. Freeman. They were instructed to look 
over the county and locate the county seat on the second Mon- 
day in February or within five days thereafter ; but the winter 
of the deep snow made it impossible for them to locate it at that 
time, and they were unable to make their report until the fol- 
lowing April. The following is the report : 

"April 21, 1831. 
We the commissioners appointed to locate a county seat in 
the county of McLean on the second Monday of February or 
within five days thereafter, owing to the severity of the weather 
and the depth of snow it was impossible for us to proceed to lo- 
cate the same at the time specified by law; but as soon there- 
after as practicable we proceeded to examine the situation of the 
county, and have located the same on the land of James Allin, 
on the north end of the Blooming Grove, for which we have his 
obligation for a donation of twenty-two acres and a half of land. 

Lemuel Lbe 3 
Jonathan Pugh." 



40 BLOOMINGTON. 

The Fourth of July, 1831, was a great day at Blooming 
Grove, for on that day the town of Bloomington came into be- 
ing. The lots of the original town were then sold at auction. 
The town then contained twelve squares and was bounded by 
North, Front, East and West streets. On the record of the pro- 
ceedings of the County Court appears the following : 

"Fourth of July, 1831. 

" The Court proceeded to sell the lots of the town of Bloom- 
ington. James Allin was appointed agent to execute deeds and 
Isaac Baker to take acknowledgments. (Recorded in Book Z.)" 

The lots were cried 'off b} T William Orendorff as auctioneer. 
The bidding was lively and the excitement great. The highest 
price paid for any lot was fifty-two dollars, which was given by 
A. Gridley for town lot number sixty, where the McLean 
County Bank now stands. Bloomington was a lively town from 
the start, for it numbered among its citizens many men who have 
since shown the most extraordinary foresight and business sa T 
gacity. These men were united and earnest and determined 
that the town should be pushed into prosperity at all hazards. 
They were sharpened by strange experiences. 

The first addition to the town of Bloomington was made by 
James Allin, and the plat was recorded August 1, 1831. It con- 
sisted of a tier and a half of squares on the south of the original 
town and two tiers of squares on the west, making twelve squares 
and six half squares. 

James Allin worked for the growth and prosperity of the 
town with the most untiring zeal, and was most enthusiastic in 
his hopes for its development and future prosperity. He said it 
was on a direct line between the rapids of the Illinois River and 
Cairo, on a line between Chicago and St. Louis, and on a line 
between Columbus, Ohio, and Flint Rock, (Burlington) Iowa. 
It was situated on the edge of one of the prettiest groves in 
Illinois. He lived to see his fondest hopes realized, as the town, 
of which he was the founder, grew to an inland city. But it 
was not because it was on a line between great points, for other 
towns, not so fortunate, have quite as good a location; it was 
not alone because it was situated on the edge of a pretty grove 
or because the soil was productive ; but it grew and prospered 
because its citizens were determined that it should grow and 



BLOOMINGTON. 41 

prosper. They worked for it and obtained for it every advan- 
tage; they had faith in it, and it grew and continues growing- 

The first court in McLean County was held in James Allin's 
double log cabin, in that part which he used as a dwelling. But 
on the fifth of January, 1832, the Commissioners' Court adopted 
a plan for building a court house as follows : 

"A building of one story high, eighteen feet by thirty, 
to be finished as a comfortable dwelling house, and order that 
the clerk give public notice for selling out the (erection of the) 
building aforesaid to the lowest and best bidder on the sixth day 
of March next." 

At the time appointed, the building of the court house was 
bid off to A. Gridley for three hundred and thirty-nine dollars 
and seventy-five cents. It was built by him and accepted in De- 
cember, 1832. It was situated on the west side of the public 
square. The jail was built by William Dimmitt for $321. 

The interests of the little town were watchfully guarded, and 
in 1834 it numbered one hundred and eighty persons, according 
to a census taken by Allen Withers. During the next two years 
the rush of people to Illinois from the East was wonderful, and 
the town grew in 1836 to number four hundred and fifty souls. 

The early merchants of Bloomington were liberal, enter- 
prising men. The following from the pen of John W. Billings 
places the condition of the town in the early days in a clear 
light: 

"James Allin first displayed goods at the place now occupied 
by Dr. Stipp as a dwelling, but soon moved up street, and about 
the year 1839 built a brick on the corner of Main and Front 
streets, the present site of the Livingston clothing house. The 
mercantile firm of Gridley & Covel stood upon the site of the 
McLean County Bank. This firm did perhaps more business 
than any one house at that time and bore the brunt of the hard 
times. After a while they closed out their mercantile matters 
and went into a steam mill for carding wool and grinding wheat, 
doing business for a laige extent of country. Haines & Son 
were dry goods merchants. More & Crow (not black) kept a 
mercantile house on the corner of Main and Front streets ; but 
their establishment passed into the hands of B. F. Wood, who 
was afterwards drowned in the Missouri River. Mr* Goodcop, 



42 BLOOMINGTON. 

German from Philadelphia, flourished for a while in the mer- 
cantile line, but returned to the city of broadbrims. A hard- 
ware firm by the name of Freylies Brothers settled about the 
year 1835, but soon disappeared, their places being supplied by 
George Dietrich about the year 1839. Mr. Dietrich was an in- 
dustrious, enterprising young man, who has accumulated a for- 
tune and retired from business and lives at Normal, honored 
and respected by all. The first plastering mason in Blooming- 
ton was William Goodheart, a Scotchman by birth, a former 
soldier in the army of the great Napoleon, a Methodist class 
leader, and one whose life corresponded with his teaching. He 
died at a ripe old age, leaving sons and daughters, worthy citi- 
zens. Father Goodheart burned the first brick in this vicinity, 
and Robert Guthrie was the next in this line of business. In an 
early day J. M. Caleb kept a public house opposite Paist & Mar- 
mon's drug store, where we received our daily rations. Some 
of the lady boarders were so fastidious that they nearly fainted 
on a hot day, when Postmaster Brown had the audacity to seat 
himself at the dinner table without a coat. The Big Tavern 
was kept by F. S. Dean, a New York yankee, near the present 
McLean County Bank, and was burned in 1855 or '56. 

" A Mr. Bonesteel was among the first owners of steam mills. 
His mill was on the water run, then called a slough, between 
Main and Albert streets, but was burned down at an early day. 
Another steam mill, built by 0. Covel, was burned down some 
years after. A steam saw mill, which stood between Centre 
and Madison streets, and was owned by B. F. Wood, was also 
burned. An Indian family living near was suspected of setting 
it on fire, and some young men (mostly of the " baser sort") at- 
tacked and destroyed their house and drove them off, though 
they were probably innocent. 

The people in those days were obliged to have their fun. A 
long-legged, awkward young man, named Peter Bonesteel, was 
arrested for some pretended offence and brought into Court; 
but after a trial was discharged. He was afraid to leave the 
court house, as he thought the boys would lynch him. At last 
they became uproarious, pushed him out of the door and 
shouted, " Run, Pete, run !" He did run, sure enough, and be- 
ing tall, long-legged, with heavy boots, the mud an inch or two 



BLOOMINGTON. 43 

in depth, with a scare upon his mind and a lot of wolfish boys 
behind, he made such time as would make a locomotive jealous, 
leaving the howling hounds far in the rear, stopping not until he 
crouched on the bottom of his father's cellar in Pone Hollow. 
But he was a good boy and of a good family and did not deserve 
such treatment. 

Many of those who were in business in early days, have suc- 
ceeded well. Lewis Bunn and Abraham Brokaw were among 
the first plow and wagon makers in McLean County. Elijah 
Rockhold, now deceased, was for a long while chief architect 
and builder in Bloomington. Jesse Fell, a member of the Soci- 
ety of Friends, father of J. W. Fell of Normal and a large fam- 
ily of other children, most of them still living in McLean 
County, came to Bloomington when it was in its swaddling 
clothes. Mother Fell, as is usual with Friends, often preached 
to us, as the spirit moved, many good and remembered lessons. 
Father Fell also had a word for all, well-timed to profit. But 
their earthly pilgrimage has long since ended ; they have obeyed 
the mandate : "Come up higher." Mr. Robert Guthrie was 
also a nurse to the infant Bloomington, settling first on the 
Flagg farm, but soon selling out and coming down to Front 
street. Perhaps he was the first regular plastering mason here. 
William Brewer, the first tanner and currier, died about the 
year 1844 or '45. 

About the year 1849 or '50 the California gold excitement 
was greatest and Bloomington sent out a large delegation of 
some of her best citizens. Dan. Robinson, since deceased, Ly- 
man Ferre, at that time of wagon and carriage notoriety, Seth 
H. Adams, familiarly known as Speedy Adams, and John M. 
Loving and many others started for the golden El Dorado. 
Doctor Colburn went some little distance, but returned. Rev. 
D. J. Perry gave them a parting address, and one of his ideas 
was particularly note-worthy. He said : "Many of the thou- 
sands now leaving for the farther West think they are going out 
of the world, where they may think, do and act as they please, 
while the truth is, they are going right into the world,*where 
people from all climes and tongues are now congregating, each 
peculiarly jealous of his rights and ready to maintain them ; the 
great I Am watches them with a no less jealous eye than if they 
remained at home." Sound doctrine. 



44 BLOOMINGTON. 

"Among- the most influential men of Bloomington was Gen- 
eral Merritt Covel. He was the right man in the right place, 
and the people respected his judgment. He was honorable in 
his business transactions and shrewd in his calculations. He 
was amiable of disposition — a gentleman and a genial com- 
panion. He died in the year 1847. General Gridley (the old 
folks called him Colonel) represented McLean County in the 
legislature for one or more terms in 1840 and '41, and is re- 
ported as second to none of his illustrious compeers of the State 
Assembly. His constituents were well pleased with his ability, 
legislative powers, fine eloquence, keen retort and skillful ma- 
neuvering in all matters affecting McLean County. He served 
his constituents in the State Senate in 1851, '52, '53 and '54. 
About this time the Illinois Central Railroad Company was to 
be chartered, and Bloomington had vital interests at stake. It 
was then more of a hamlet than a city, and its future hung in 
the balance. It was clear that General Gridley was the man to 
espouse her interests and carry them through, and with hercu- 
lean labors he was triumphantly successful. The chartered line 
would have carried the track several miles east of the corporation 
limits, which would have built up a town there and Blooming- 
ton would have been left in the cold. General Gridley duly ap- 
preciated this and nerved himself to the task of getting the 
charter so amended as to make Bloomington a definite point, 
the result of which is now before the people. It would be un- 
generous and unjust to say that he did all this individually, but 
he was the pioneer spirit linked with Jesse W. Fell, Judge 
David Davis and others. The Bloomington Gas and Coke Com- 
pany is the result of the enterprise and thrift of General Grid- 
ley. Probably the head, trunk and limbs of this company are 
contained in his person and pocket. When the corporation was 
in darkness, each person carrying his own lantern and each busi- 
ness place supplying its own lamp post, a light sprang up to- 
wards Sugar Creek and, though glimmering at first, it is now 
magnified and the city shines in its radiance. The McLean 
County Bank was the first institution of its kind established. 
Its heart and safe respond to the autograph of General Gridley. 
Our stock men are under obligations to him for engineering into 
being the present banking facilities of our city. 



BLOOMINUTON. 45 

"Jesse W. Fell, of Normal, came to Blooniington about the 
year 1833. He is of good old Pennsylvania Quaker stock. His 
father as well as himself was naturally a horticulturist and 
fruit grower. I have often looked at an orchard (perhaps their 
first planting in McLean County) with much delight. The lines 
of the trees were seemingly set in a diamond form, but were in 
straight lines from every point of view. J. W. Fell edited the 
Bloomington Intelligencer for a while. He was a fine scholar, an 
able editor and a prolific writer, energetic in character and 
ready of wit and repartee, sound in judgment and pointed in 
debate, strong in reasoning powers and a fluent speaker, and 
flush of right words in the right place. He has never been 
chosen as a representative of the people in any legislative body, 
but he has been an active worker in everything pertaining to 
the interest of McLean County, and has been much more useful 
than scores of members holding constituent papers. The Illinois 
Central Railroad required his attention and services throughout 
its construction. Mr. Fell has always been a friend of educa- 
tion and temperance. The Illinois public school system is 
debtor to him for many things. Among the other good things 
it might be said, "he has education on the brain." He thinks 
everything of the State Normal University, and was an indefati- 
gable worker for its establishment in the place it occupies. He 
has been no less untiring in ornamenting its grounds than in 
locating its site. Trees, shrubbery and flowers, like education, 
possess a green and flowery spot in his cranium. 

"It would be a curiosity, indeed, if the Bloomington of early 
days was to appear before us. I picture in my mind the Bloom- 
ington of 1837, with its muddy streets, and I see the lone pedes- 
trian, with pants in boots, wending his way to the post office, 
kept in a sixteen by twenty feet room ; or I see the lady, with 
skirts slightly raised, displaying a shining black bootee, daintily 
picking her steps along single planks, over chip-piles and around 
mud-puddles, to some store, where could be found many things 
between the needle and the anchor, a spool of thread, a bolt of 
muslin, a pound of tea, and tobacco, coffee, saleratus, curry- 
combs, molasses, etc., in promiscuous plenty. How different is 
this from the Bloomington of the present day, with its macad- 
amized streets and its Nicholson pavement, its huge storehouses 



46 BLOOMINGTON. 

and fine private dwellings, and its monster court house, where 
all capital criminals are proved to be insane. 

" Although Bloomington is yet in the first blush of city wo- 
manhood, her beautiful child, Miss Normal, is yet in her teens. 
Suitors already come to her, attracted by her building lots and 
shady streets. Under the protecting care of the Normal Univer- 
sity and the Soldiers' Orphans' Home she will arrive at her law- 
ful majority. The elder institution sends out from her desks 
each year more or less of the sons of the gentlemen yeomanry 
of the State — some as theologians, to be sent on home or foreign 
missions; others to take up Blackstone and be prepared to prove 
every culprit honest or insane, or every honest man a culprit ; 
others to seek the wisdom of Esculapius, in order that all the 
ill, which flesh is heir to, may flee as chaff in the tornado track. 
Others will go out to educate the youth and teach the young 
idea how to shoot — with impunity ! — while others will analyze 
mother earth, in order to adapt the proper seeds to the proper 
soils, a knowledge not possessed by all of the farming commu- 
nity at present. 

" Bloomington was a most fortunate town in the early days. 
It contained few of that idle, vagabond class of people, who are 
the curse of new places. It was no place tor them, as the ener- 
getic, hard-working people were too numerous. Water and oil 
will never mix ; the shiftless and lazy people went to other 
localities." 

Such are the ideas given by Mr. J. W. Billings, and the 
reader will agree with me that such entertaining descriptions 
seldom appear in print. Mr. Billings should have been a writer, 
and in neglecting to cultivate his literary taste he has mistaken 
his calling in life. 

In about the year 1836 or '37 Bloomington was full of enter- 
prising young men, who have since made their mark. In 1837 
Judge McClun came to the town and started as a merchant. 
He was little more than a boy and had not much of this world's 
goods ; but he was full of pluck, hopeful of the future, careful, 
and above all, honest in business and sagacious in his calcula- 
tions. Allen Withers was then a young merchant and carried 
on his business with his father, in Boyce Block. William H. 
Temple was then an enterprising young man, and in 1838 began 



BLOOMINGTON. 47 

business on his own account. James Miller was a merchant in 
the early days and afterwards treasurer of the State. Matthew 
II. Hawks was about this time in the dry goods business, but 
afterwards thought he saw more money in carding wool and 
making linseed oil. 

Judge David Davis and Kersey II. Fell were then young men 
destined to shine in the legal profession. The former now sits 
on the Supreme Bench of the United States, and his friends be- 
lieve that his splendid talents would do honor to a higher position. 
Wm. II. Hodge and Amasa C. Washburn were then schoolmas- 
ters, and if all reports are true, "they spared not the rod, as they 
kept the old rule and beat in the A. B. C." The former is remarka- 
ble for his great memory, and his word concerning the transac- 
tions of the early days is gospel, and no one disputes it. Thomas 
Williams and Thomas, Fell were house builders then, and their 
services were appreciated, for many of the settlers had only the 
canopy of heaven as a roof to shelter them. John Moore, the 
wagon maker, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of the State, 
made wagons for the settlers to haul their grain to market. 
Abraham Brokaw, Lewis Bunn and William F. Flagg were hard- 
handed sons of toil, and all were remarkably successful in their 
profession. William McCullough, "the bravest of the brave," 
was sheriff, afterwards recorder, and at last a sacrifice to his 
own daring on a Southern battlefield. William Evans was then 
a farmer and lived out of town ; but the town came to him at 
last and took him in, farm and all. William T. Major was then 
here, an earnest, active Christian and the founder of the Chris- 
tian Church in Bloomington. In those days, too, John Magoun, 
the incorrigible bachelor, flourished. He was a bricklayer, a 
merchant, a capitalist, a landowner, and in everything he suc- 
ceeded. He was then, as now, a practical philanthropist. The 
good deeds which he did in secret, were known only to his 
Heavenly Father, who has rewarded him openly. He was then, 
as now, an advocate of temperance. One of the old settlers, 
who has watched his course from then until the present time, 
says of him : "He stands the highest of any man in this com- 
munity. I have my enemies, and this may be said of nearly all 
men who are pretty well known ; but he has none ; every man 
is his friend." John Magoun is one of the trustees of the Wes- 



48 BLOOMINGTON. 

leyan University, which stands in the suburbs of Bloomington. 
This institution has had many hard struggles with fortune, but 
its friends have been numerous and strong. The present Uni- 
versit} 7 building is a model of elegance and taste, and its professors 
are gentlemen of culture. 

Religious matters in early days received attention. The first 
Sabbath-school was organized on the 8th and 9th of March, 1832, 
at a school house, where A. C. Washburn was teaching. The 
appointment had been given out b} r Rev. Mr. Latta, and on the 
8th of March a few people attended. Great opposition was 
manifested, and a learned doctor was loud in his declaration that 
it was simply a measure to unite the church and state ! The 
meeting adjourned until the next day, when the organization was 
perfected. A. C. Washburn was chosen superintendent, and he 
worked diligently for the little school of twenty or thirty 
scholars. He made every effort to induce the scholars at the 
week-day school to put on their prettiest clothes and come to the 
Sabbath-school. But two or three children, who belonged to a 
certain family, refused to attend, and he visited the mother and 
inquired the reason. She said : "How much do you charge for 
tuition ?" and he replied that the schools were perfectly free. 
She said : "I don't understand why you should leave your friends 
and come away out here to the West, a thousand miles or more, 
to teach my children for nothing." Then he spoke of benevo- 
lence and good will, and how anxious he was for the spread of 
the gospel, and thought her heart was touched ; but she sudden- 
ly looked up and said : "Ain't you a 'cold water' man ?" He 
was obliged to acknowledge his principles and said that he was 
a temperance man. When the woman heard this she boiled 
over with rage, and said that her children should never go to 
Sunday-school to any such man, and that ended the interview. 
In the spring of 1833 Mr. Washburn was away from Blooming- 
ton, and the Sunday-school was, for a while, under the charge of 
Rev. Mr. McGeogh, who died soon after, and the school became 
scattered. But it was revived in the fall on the return of Mr. 
Washburn. He was superintendent until the spring of 1834, 
when he was absent for a while, and it was conducted by Rev. 
Samuel Foster. In 1836 Mr. Washburn returned and was again 
made superintendent. This year was marked by a great sensa- 



BLOOMINGTON. 49 

lion. A colored family moved into the place, and four or five 
little Ethiopians made their appearance at the Sunday-school. No 
one could be found to teach them, except the superintendent, 
and he was obliged to use a part of his time in doing so. Some 
of the remaining scholars considered this an outrage and threat- 
ened to deprive the school of the honor of their presence ; but 
Mr. Washburn was firm; a few left, but the school continued 
prosperous. This was a union school until 1838, when a Meth- 
odist school was formed, and the union school became Presby- 
terian, and at the present time numbers two hundred and seventy 
scholars. 

The Bloomington of to-day is a great improvement on the 
village, which stood here thirty-five years ago. It is an improve- 
ment in material wealth, an improvement in culture and knowl- 
edge, and an improvement in appearance and external polish. 
But are the people more polite? that is, have they more of po- 
liteness of the heart ? have they more good feeling and more of 
the disposition to love their neighbors as themselves ? The truth 
is, there are too many of them to be all neighbors. When only 
a few are gathered together in a village, the affection and good 
feelings of the people can go out after each other ; but when a 
person is obliged to extend his affections over twenty or twenty- 
five thousand people, his kind feelings become thin and elastic 
everywhere. The change in feeling is due to the change in 
circumstances. People have their friends now as they had in the 
early days, but their friends do not at present consist of all 
Bloomington. Bloomington extends over four square miles and 
contained on the first of July, 1873, a population of twenty 
thousand one hundred people, and Normal contained two thou- 
sand eight hundred and twenty, making in all twenty-two 
thousand nine hundred and twenty. Instead of being a village 
with a little local traffic, it has become a center for supplies for 
the towns and villages round about. It has three large wholesale 
dry goods establishments, two wholesale groceries, and three 
groceries which do a wholesale and retail trade. It has four com- 
mission merchants, eight large establishments dealing in lumber 
and nineteen retail dry goods stores. It has nine clothing stores 
and twentjr-six dress, and cloak making establishments, from 
which the descendants of the pioneers buy their clothing, in- 
4 



50 BLOOMINGTON. 

stead of using the linsey woolsey, the blue jeans, or the whang 
sewed buckskin of their fathers. It has seventy-three grocery and 
provision stores, four wholesale and retail hardware establish- 
ments, and seven exclusively retail. It has four foundries, four 
flouring mills, three machine shops (exclusive of those of the 
Chicago and Alton R. Ii.), two agricultural implement manufac- 
tories and one chair manufactory. As the city contains many 
school girls it has been necessary to start a chewing-gum manu- 
factory. The wax affords the most healthy exercise for the jaws, 
and when these school girls grow up and go to tea parties, they 
can talk by the hour and their jaws will never fail. How great 
are the privileges enjoyed by the children of to-day ! The little 
pioneer girls had no manufactured chewing gum ; they gathered 
the wax from the rosin weed and upon this they exercised their 
jaws. The city contains twelve cigar and tobacco manufacturing 
establishments, and the youth of Bloomington can chew and 
smoke with the elegance befitting the cultured gentlemen of 
America. 

Bloomington has five banks, which furnish all commercial 
facilities; thirteen hotels, to accommodate the customers who 
come to purchase goods ; four fast freight lines; four railroads 
and one branch road, which make the city a distributing depot. 
It has two patent medicine factories, which send out medicine 
warranted to cure the ills which afflict the nations of the earth. 
It has twelve large drug stores, two of which are wholesale 
establishments, and they distribute the purest drugs to kill or 
cure the descendants of the pioneers. It has forty-two physi- 
cians, who sometimes restore men to health and sometimes 
make work for the undertakers. It has fifty lawyers, who dis- 
play their genius b} r tangling up that which is plain and straight, 
or by throwing a light upon that which is dark and obscure. It 
has eight photographic galleries, where people go for pictures 
of their beautiful selves, taken in all kinds of unnatural atti- 
tudes, with foolish smiles or strange expressions. It has eight 
book and job printing establishments, which turn out two daily 
papers, one semi-weekly, five weeklies and four monthlies. It 
has factories of various kinds — a shoe factory, a spice factory-, an 
organ factory — and quick-sighted capitalists will doubtless dis- 
cover many other things which could easily be made by a factory 



l'-LOO.MINCTON. 51 

in Bloomington. The pioneers washed their own clothing by 
the use of soap and muscle; but their thrice happy descendants 
were for a while served by pig-tailed Chinamen, sent from the 
Celestial Empire, twelve thousand miles away. Bloomington 
exercises a paternal watch-care over the surrounding country ; 
the streams are spanned by the King Iron Bridge Company, and 
the bridges are not broken down by heavy weights or carried 
away by freshets. 

The second court house in Bloomington was a brick build- 
ing, forty by forty-five feet and two stories high. It was built 
in 1836 in the center of the court house square, by Leander 
Munsell, for six thousand three hundred and seventy-five dol- 
lars. A little of this was paid in cash, but the greater part 
remained for many years a debt upon the county, drawing eight 
per cent, interest. The tax required to pay this interest was 
severely felt. 

The old court house served well in its day, and as a usual 
thing the people obtained substantial justice from the judges 
and juries within its walls. But the business of the county in- 
creased with wealth and numbers, and it became necessary to 
have larger public buildings. On the fifth of December, 1867, 
Hon. John M. Scott and Robert E. Williams, Esq., addressed 
the Board of Supervisors upon the subject of erecting a new 
court house. Investigations were made and reports presented, 
and in March the matter took definite form. A building com- 
mittee, of which O. M. Colman was chairman, was appointed, a 
contract for the present court house was made and the building 
commenced. It was superintended by Cochran & Piquard, 
architects from Chicago. The building was contracted for 
$285,342. It is built of Joliet stone and is a very imposing 
structure. 

The first preacher who delivered a sermon at Blooming Grove 
was Rev. Jarnes Stringfield from Kentucky, who belonged to 
the Methodist denomination. The exercises were held at the 
house of John Hendrix, in the year 1823, eight years before 
Bloomington was laid out. But Mr. Stringfield only came on a 
visit. Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes came in 1824, and preached when- 
ever he could collect half a dozen persons together, but had no 
regular appointments for some time. He belonged first to the 



52 BLOOMINGTON. 

Separate Baptist denomination and afterwards to the Christian. 
Rev. James Latta came to Blooming Grove in 1824, but did not 
preach regularly until 1828. The first circuit preacher in Mc- 
Lean County was Rev. William See, who came in 1826. He 
was succeeded in 1827 by Rev. Smith L. Robinson, who was 
succeeded in 1828 by Rev. James Latta. Mr. Latta was quite a 
noted old settler. He had been connected with the militia in 
1827, while the Winnebago Indians were making some trouble 
up in the mining country, and he was called Col. Latta. He 
was a very effective preacher and talked to the people directly 
concerning their errors and short comings. Mr. Latta was suc- 
ceeded as a circuit preacher by Rev. Stephen Beggs in 1829. 
The circuit was then called the Salt Creek Circuit, but was 
afterwards divided. In 1830 Rev. Mr. Shepherd took charge of 
the circuit. He was an old man and has no doubt long: since 
passed from the living. He was again, pastor in Bloomington 
in 1839. In 1831 Rev. Dr. Crissey came. 

The first sermon preached in Bloomington was delivered by 
Rev. William Crissey, in November, 1831, in the school house 
which formerly stood near where the marble works of Halde- 
man Brothers are located. He was invited by James Allin to 
preach there. Mr. Crissey had before this preached in what 
are now the suburbs of Bloomington. Gen. Gridley gives some 
items with regard to the matter as follows : 

" I arrived in Bloomington on Saturday, October 8, 1831. 
The next day (Sunday) I attended Methodist meeting at the log 
cabin of John Canady, one and a half miles southeast of town, 
on the farm now owned by the Hon. John E. McClun. The 
congregation consisted of James Allin and wife, David Trim- 
mer and wife, M. L. Covel, Samuel Durley, W. H. Hodge and 
wife, and the family of John Canady. The sermon, which was 
a very good one, was preached by Rev. Dr. Crissey, late of 
Decatur. He was a boy about my age at that time, not quite 
twenty-one." 

In 1831-2 Rev. Mr. Johnson, a Cumberland Presbyterian, 
preached here. In 1832 Dr. Crissey, of the Methodist denomi- 
nation, was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Royal. He was succeeded 
by a young preacher, whose name cannot be ascertained. Rev. 
Zadoc Hall was circuit preacher in 1835, and he took the con- 



BLOOMINGTON. 53 

tract for building the first Methodist church. He was succeeded 
by Mr. Chase in 1836. The latter was the first stationary 
preacher in Bloomington. He was succeeded by Rev. Richard 
Haney in 1837, who remained two years. 

The first Presbyterian preacher was Rev. Calvin W. Babbitt, 
who came in December, 1832, and organized the Presbyterian 
Church in January, 1833. He was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Mc- 
Geogh in the spring of 1833. The latter was a Scotchman 
and a man of great learning. He had a large and well selected 
library of books in various languages. He died in Blooming- 
ton. Rev. Lemuel Foster, also Presbyterian, came in the fall 
of 1833. 

The Catholic Church, called the Church of the Immaculate 
Conception, presents the strongest membership of any in Bloom- 
ington, having about six thousand. The pastors are Rev. James 
J. McGovern, D. D.; First Assistant, Rev. L. Lightner, D. D.; 
Second Assistant, Rev. F. A. O'Connor. It has a large and 
flourishing Sundaj r -school. The number of girls in attendance 
at the Academy of St. Joseph is two hundred. The church 
building is situated on Main street, corner of Chestnut. The 
St. Mary's German Church, Catholic, is on North Water street, 
corner of Short. 

The Methodist Church is very strong in numbers and in- 
fluence. The first Methodist Church has a membership of eight 
hundred and twenty-five. The pastor is the Rev. R. M. Barns. 
The building is located on Washington street, corner of East. 
A new building will shortly be erected on the corner of Grove 
and East streets. This church has nine local preachers, six ex- 
horters, six stewards and twenty-six leaders. The Sabbath 
school is superintended by C. S. Aldrich and numbers four 
hundred and twenty-five scholars and has thirty-two teachers. 
The German Methodists, Rev. E. C. Magarat, pastor, have their 
place of worship at 415 North Centre street. The Sunday- 
school connected with it has an attendance of one hundred and 
seventy-five scholars. The University Methodist Church, with 
a membership of two hundred and eighty-five, Rev. J. G. Little, 
pastor, holds services in Amie Chapel, in the Wesleyan Univer- 
sity. The Sunday-school is superintended by II. G. Reeves. 
Number of scholars two hundred, and teachers, seventeen. The 



54 BLOOMINGTON. 

German Mission is located at 1302 S. Main street. The African 
M thodist Church is located at 806 N. Centre street, and the 
African Baptist Church is on Main street, near N. Water. 

The Baptist Church has a large and influential membership. 
The first Baptist Church, Rev. C. E. Hewitt, pastor, is located 
on the northeast corner of Madison and Jefferson streets. It was 
organized in 1835, numbers five hundred and twenty members, 
and has a Sabbath-school with an attendance of four hundred 
scholars and thirty teachers. The Superintendent is D. B. Har- 
wood. The West Baptist Mission Sunday-school is on the cor- 
ner of Locust and Cranmer streets. It has seventy-five scholars 
and nine teachers, superintended byR, G.Lambert. The South 
Baptist Mission Sunday-school numbers fifty scholars and nine 
teachers, and is superintended by II. C. Crist. The Mt. Pisgah 
Baptist Church (colored), Rev. T. Reasoner, pastor, has sixty 
members. The Sabbath-school, superintended by J. W. Hag- 
gard, has an attendance of forty-five scholars. The building is 
located at 504 S. Lee street. The Mission Chapel, (German) 
Rev. W. Deininger, pastor, is located at 1002 S. Main street. 

The strength and influence of the Presbyterian Church is 
due in some measure to the fact that it was the first, or about 
the first, which became organized in Bloomington. The Lord's 
Supper was administered in January, 1832, and the church soon 
became firmly established. The First Presbyterian Church, 
Rev. J. McLean, pastor, is located on the corner of Grove and 
East streets, and numbers one hundred and eighty members. 
The Sunday-school numbers about two hundred and seventy-five 
scholars, and great interest is manifested in it. The Second 
Presbyterian Church, Rev. W. Dinsmore, pastor, is on the cor- 
ner of East and North streets. It numbers four hundred and 
fifty members. The Sunday-school connected with it is super- 
intended by B. P. Marsh and numbers three hundred scholars 
and thirty-five teachers. 

St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Rev. T. N. Morrison, pas- 
tor, is on the corner of Washington and West streets. It was 
organized July 31, 1853. It now numbers about one hundred 
and fifty members. The Sunday-school was organized about 
the same time as the church and numbers about one hundred 
and forty members. 



BLOOMINGTON. 55 

The Christian Church, Rev. J. II. McCullough, pastor, is lo- 
cated at 401 West Jefferson street. It is strong and flourishing. 
The Sunday-school, superintended by M. Svvann, numbers one 
hundred and sixty scholars and thirteen teachers. The Mission 
School of the Christian Church meets at the corner of South 
Grove and Vine streets, and numbers one hundred and ten 
scholars and ten teachers. 

The First Congregational Church, Rev. J. M. Baugh, pastor, 
meets at Schroeder's Opera House. It numbers eighty members. 
The Sunday-school, superintended by S. D. Gaylord, has thir- 
teen teachers and one hundred and fifty scholars. 

The Free Congregational Church, Rev. C. C. Burleigh, 
pastor, is located on the corner of East and Jefferson streets. It 
was organized in 1859, and has one hundred members. The 
Sunday-school, superintended by Thomas Metcalf, has one hun- 
dred and ten scholars and eleven teachers. 

The German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church, Rev. E. 
Mangelsdorf, pastor, meets at corner of Madison and Olive 
streets. The number of voting members is five hundred and 
seventy-five. The congregation is now building two day school 
houses, as the number of pupils at the day schools of this de- 
nomination amounts to one hundred and twenty-five. The Sun- 
day-school has about one hundred and fifty scholars. 



m 




■ ■ ^1 




BLOOMINGTON HIGH SCHOOL. 



BLOOMINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



The public schools of Bloomington are a matter of just pride 
to its citizens. The willingness of the people to submit to 
many sacrifices for their children, and the interest they have 
taken in the cause of education, have made the schools efficient 
and given them a high standing. Until the year 1857 the public 
schools of Bloomington were managed under the common school 
system ; but during that year a Board of Education was organ- 
ized under an act of the Legislature. The board consisted of 
seven members, elected for two years, and possessed very full 
powers. But after the first of April, 1869, it was continued by 
electing two members in each of two years and three members 
every third year. It first met and organized in the office of 0. 
T. Reeves, on the eighth of April, 1857. The members of the 
board were C. P. Merriman, 0. T. Reeves, E. R. Roe, Eliel' 
Barber, Samuel Gallagher, Henry Richardson, and R. 0. War- 
riner. C. P. Merriman was made President; R. 0. Warriner, 
Secretary, and 0. T. Reeves, Treasurer. It was soon evident 
that the Board of Education meant to do something in the way 
of making the schools efficient and giving them a high stand- 
ing, for it immediately chose a board of three examiners into 
the qualifications of teachers, and a committee of three to ex- 
amine into the wants of the city with regard to school rooms. 
The latter committee reported it necessary to build school 
houses costing ten thousand dollars, and their report was 
adopted by the Board of Education, and measures were taken 
to carry it out. But some difficulty was experienced, as the 
City Council refused to levy the tax required for the schools. 
The Board of Education therefore, at the session in June, 1857, 
passed the following resolution : 



58 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

" Resolved, That the superintendent be instructed to employ 
lion. A. Lincoln to take the necessary steps to procure from the 
Circuit Court a writ of mandamus to compel said City Council 
to levy the tax as required of them by section eight of said 
school law." 

But the matter was finally settled without resorting to the 
courts. In 1857 the board decided to rent school houses in four 
of the districts, and some idea of the value of property at that 
time may be obtained from the prices paid as rent for these 
school houses. They rented houses as follows : 

District No. 1 $45 per quarter. 

" 2 30 

" 3 20 " 

" 4 , 30 " 

The first superintendent of schools elected by the Board of 
Education was D. Wilkins, Jr., who was chosen in October, 
1857. He seems to have acted very efficiently and to have 
understood his responsibilities. But the " hard times" were 
felt very severely, and in March, 1858, the wages of teachers in 
the lower grades were cut down to $35, $30 and $25. In July 
of the same year the High School was re-organized, with Mr. H. 
Kellogg as principal, and in the following year Mr. Gilbert 
Thayer was elected superintendent of schools. 

The government of the schools was early a subject of* anxiety 
to the Board of Education, and on the second of March, 1859, 
it was 

" Resolved, That this Board of Education disapprove of cor- 
poral punishment in our free schools." 

In July following it was 

" Resolved, That no teacher hereafter shall condemn or cen- 
sure any pupil until said pupil shall have the opportunity of 
being heard in his or her own defence, and that the language 
used by a teacher in administering discipline shall always be 
respectful and dignified." 

On the twenty-ninth of June, 1868, Mr. Samuel M. Etter, of 
Kewanee, was unanimously chosen superintendent of the Bloom- 
ington schools. He filled his position with marked ability 
until October, 1872, when he resigned for the purpose of en- 



PUHLIC SCHOOLS. 59 

gaging- in other business. The following is the resolution 
passed by the Board of Education, accepting Mr. Etter's resig- 
nation : 

" Resolved, That the resignation be accepted, to take etFect on 
or before October 25th, and that we hereby declare our confi- 
dence in the ability of Mr. Etter as a manager of the man}* per- 
plexing details of a comprehensive school system ; and that in 
parting with him we desire hereby to assure him that he has 
the best wishes of this board for his success in his new field of 
labor." 

On the thirty-first of August, Mr. B. P. Marsh, of Galesburg, 
was elected principal of the High School, which position he has 
filled with honor to the schools and credit to himself. He re- 
signed this position at the close of the school year in June, 
1873, for the purpose of engaging in the practice of medicine. 

On the twenty-first of September, 1868, the Board of Edu- 
cation contracted with Packard & Thomas to put up the High 
School building for $28,499. This was absolutely necessary, in 
order to accommodate the growing wants of the scholars. 

On the twenty-ninth of May, 1871, it was resolved that the 
superintendent be instructed to report to the Board of Educa- 
tion a plan for the introduction of the German language as a 
branch of study in the public schools of the city. On the last 
of July following Mr. Etter reported that he had visited and 
corresponded with various parties at Davenport, Iowa ; Rock 
Island, Chicago, and Beloit, Wis. ; and said that the teaching 
of German in the schools could be made successful. The com- 
mittee on teachers and course of instruction was directed to 
report a definite ,plan, and the superintendent was directed to 
correspond with a view of procuring a German teacher. On 
the twenty-fifth of September, 1871, Herr Von Loewenfells was 
appointed teacher of German in the various schools of the city, 
at a salary of $900 for eight months' work. On the twenty- 
seventh of Xovember, 1871, Von Loewenfells resigned, and Rev. 
Mr. Deininger was appointed in his place, at a salary of §100 
per month. On the third of June, 1872, Professor E. Duis was 
chosen teacher of German, and continued in that capacity until 
June, 1873. 

On the nineteenth of October, 1872, S. D. Gaylord was 



60 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

elected superintendent of schools, and continues to fill this re- 
sponsible position with satisfaction to all. 

In the city of Bloomington are ten school buildings, of which 
six are brick and four are frame. These buildings with their 
furniture have cost the city more than one hundred and seventy 
thousand dollars, and can accommodate more than twenty-seven 
hundred scholars. At the close of the year 1872 twenty-seven 
hundred and fifty-one scholars were enrolled in the city, and of 
these twenty-six hundred and thirty were in actual attendance. 
The colored school is open to pupils from all parts of Bloom- 
ington. The city is divided into eight school districts. The 
departments below the High School have ten separate grades. 
In the High School are three separate courses of study : the 
scientific, requiring four years, the' classical, requiring five years 
and the course preparatory for college, requiring three years. 
In the scientific course great attention is paid to mathematics ; 
in the classical course hardly as much attention is given to math- 
ematics, but more than four years are given to Latin. In the 
course preparatory for college three years are given to Latin and 
two years to Greek. German is taught in the High School. 
English literature receives much attention and one entire year 
is devoted to it. The natural sciences are not neglected. One 
term is given to geology and two to physiology, botany and 
chemistry. 

The members of the Bloomington Board of Education are : 
Samuel S. Parke, Jacob Jacoby, Cyreneus Wakefield, J. A. 
Jackman, K. H. Fell, E. M. Piince and B. P. Marsh. 

The Superintendent of Schools is S. D. Gaylord. He was 
chosen Superintendent of the Bloomington Public Schools, Oc- 
tober 19, 1872. Mr. Gaylord was born of American parentage 
at Ashford, Conn., in 1833. He was the third in a family of 
seven boys, all of whom, with their parents, have been school 
teachers during some part of their lives. He received his edu- 
cation principally in the public schools and academies of New 
England. He educated himself, as his father, though in com- 
fortable circumstances, was notable to educate his large family. 
Mr. Gaylord graduated at the Connecticut Literary Institute at 
Suffield. He began to teach in district schools when eighteen 
years of age. He taught for three years in Mt. Hollis Seminary 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 61 

at Ilolliston, Mass., and while there continued his studies under 
Prof. E. J. Cutter of Harvard College, until he completed the 
course required in that institution. lie came to the West in the 
year 1858 in answer to a call from the Board of Education at 
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to take charge of the free schools in that 
city. In 1861 he went to Sheboj'gan, A\ r is., where he became 
the superintendent of schools. In 1867 he received a call to 
the Milwaukee High School, which was being re-orgmized, and 
remained there two years ; but failing health' compelled his 
resignation. Some time afterwards he accepted a call to organize 
the public schools of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, but at the end 
of two years he found that entire rest from school room duties 
was necessary to restore his health, and therefore resigned his 
position and spent some time in traveling. On the nineteenth 
of October, 1872, he accepted the invitation of the Board of Edu- 
cation of Bloomington to take charge of the public schools in 
place of Mr. Etter, resigned. Mr. Ga3'lord has had twenty 
years of experience in teaching, and has always been promi- 
nently identified with educational movements and institute work. 
He was a member of the State Board of Examiners for state 
certificates in Wisconsin, and in 1866 was President of the Wis- 
consin State Teachers' Association. 

B. P. Marsh. 

B. P. Marsh was born 1841 in Nunda, New York; he ob- 
tained under difficulties an education which prepared him for 
his favorite study, that of medicine, which he has made his 
profession. He graduated from Knox College, Galesburg, in 
1864. He has been principal of the High School during the 
past five 3 7 ears, longer than any one before, and has done much 
for the schools. While engaged here he has several times been 
offered professorships in educational institutions ; but as it is 
not his intention to spend his days in teaching, he resigned his 
position as principal of the High School in June, 1873, and com- 
menced the practice of medicine. He is now connected witli 
Dr. H. B. Wright, with whom he has formed a partnership. He 
still takes an interest in educational matters and is a member of 
the Bloomington Board of Education. 



62 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

Samuel M. Etter. 

Mr. Etter is not now in any way connected with the schools 
of Bloomington, but he filled the position of superintendent 
during a very important period, while nearly all of the school 
buildings used at present were constructed, and while various 
changes were made and modern improvements introduced. 
Something concerning his life is therefore called for by those 
who have taken an interest in the Bloomington schools. From 
a sketch published in the Illinois Teacher are taken the items 
for a short account of his life. 

Mr. Etter was born May 16, 1830. His father was of Ger- 
man descent. He lived in Pennsylvania during the first ten 
years of his life and then went with his father's family to Ohio, 
where he exercised his youthful muscle on a farm. During the 
first fourteen or fifteen years of his life he received very little 
education, but determined to acquire knowledge at all hazards. 
At the a^e of sixteen he attended a boarding school at Twins- 
burg, Ohio, and walked fifty miles to get there. He succeeded 
in his studies of course, for such pluck as he showed was sure 
to win. "When his money was exhausted he taught school to ob- 
tain more funds. Mr. Etter attended the High School at Mas- 
sillon, Ohio, and afterwards the college at Kalamazoo, Michigan. 
He taught school at Perrysburg, Ohio, at Lacon and at Galva, 
Illinois. Without discontinuing his school at the latter place, 
he was in 1861 < elected County Superintendent of Henry County. 
In 1863 he was chosen President of the State Teachers' Associa- 
tion, which was held the following year at Joliet. In 1864 he 
received the degree of Master of Arts from Knox College, and 
during the same year was chosen Superintendent of Schools at 
Kewanee. In 1868 he was unanimously elected Superintendent 
of Public Schools of Bloomington, which position he held until 
October, 1872. Mr. Etter has been remarkably successful as a 
teacher wherever he has gone. He has the determination and 
good judgment which makes him successful and the pleasant 
manner and kind disposition which make him popular. He has 
been ever careful never to neglect his duties, and he certainly 
has the good will of all the old teachers and friends with whom 
he labored. 



ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 



In 1850, a number of the leading citizens of Bloomington agi- 
tated the subject of founding a university complete in all its 
departments. Illinois was felt to be a growing State, and these 
citizens were anxious that its educational advantages should be 
of the first order. It was decided that the university should be 
placed under the control of the Methodist Church. This was 
not done for the purpose of making it a sectarian institution, 
for science can never be made sectarian. It was felt that it 
should be placed in careful hands, where it would be likely to 
have good management ; and as the Methodist Church was then, 
as now, very large and influential, the care of the new univer- 
sity was confided to it. It was intended that its influence 
should be of a Christian character, but the students of all de- 
nominations should find a home within its halls. This idea lias 
been faithfully carried out. 

The first Board of Trustees organized under the general laws 
of the State on the second of December, 1850. Their names 
were Hon. Isaac Funk, Silas Waters, Rev. James C. Finley, C. 
P. Merriman, Rev. W. D. R. Trotter, D. D., David Trimmer, 
Rev. C. M. Holliday, John Magoun, Wm. II. Holmes, Col. 
James Miller, Lewis Bunn, Rev. John Van Cleve, D. D., John 
N". Ewing, Rev. John S. Barger, William Wallace, Rev. Peter 
Cartwright, D. D., Rev. Calvin W. Lewis, James Allin, Rev. 
Reuben Anclrus, A. M., W. C. Hobbs, Rev. Wm. J. Rutledge, 
K. H. Fell, Rev. James Leaton, Rev. J. F. Jaques, A. M., Dr. 
T. P. Rogers, Linus Graves, Rev. Thomas Magee, Hon. John E. 
McClun, Dr. Ezekiel Thomas and Wm. H. Allin. 

In the winter of 1850 and '51 a preparatory school was or- 
ganized under the charge of Rev. R. Andrus, A. M., in the 
basement of the Methodist Church. Subscription papers were 



g4 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 

at once circulated to obtain funds necessary to put up suitable 
buildings, but the amount raised fell far short of the necessities 
of the institution. Nevertheless the work was begun and the 
foundations of the building were laid. 

In Jul}', 1851, a second professor, Rev. Wm. Goodfellow, A. 
M., was elected, and at the opening of the college year in Sep- 
tember the school was much enlarged. On the sixth of July, 
1851, Rev. John Dempster, D. D., of Concord, New Hampshire, 
was elected president. The first annual commencement was held 
on the seventh of July, 1853. At this commencement the de- 
gree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred upon James Hughes 
Barger, the first graduate. The degree of Master of Arts, in 
course, was also conferred upon Daniel Wilkins, A. B., a grad- 
uate of the University of Michigan. Shortly after this President 
Dempster moved to Evanston. In the meantime the work of 
raising funds and of putting up the building went on very 
slowly, and the institution began to be much involved in debt. 
The members of the faculty would not get even the small sala- 
ries which belonged to them, and resigned and sought other 
fields of labor. On the 9th of August, 1855, Rev. Clinton "W. 
Sears, who had been a professor in the institution, was elected 
president, and a strong effort was made to establish it on a firm 
basis. The building was so far advanced that a part of it could 
be occupied, but the great difficulty in procuring funds caused 
the failure of all of these plans. The faculty all resigned, the 
school was discontinued and the building sold under a mechanic's 
lien. But the friends of the institution did not despair. The}- 
secured the services of Rev. Charles W. C. Munsell as canvasser 
to procure the funds necessary for placing the institution once 
more upon a sound basis. Mr. Munsell went to work enthusi- 
astically and used his own private means to redeem the building 
after its sale under the mechanics' lien. A new charter was 
granted to the institution by the Legislature and a new Board of 
Trustees was nominated by the two Methodist Conferences. 

This Board elected Rev. Oliver S. Munsell, A. M., president 
of the University, and authorized him in connection with the 
Executive Committee to organize the faculty and decide upon 
the courses of study and re-open the University. A small loan 
was effected and the building was completed. On the tenth of 



WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 65 

September, 1857, the school was re-opened with three professors 
and seventeen students. But even this small number of students 
was not kept up during the term. Some four or five of them 
began to feel so lonesome in walking through the almost deserted 
halls that they, too, left the school. During the entire year only 
sixty students were enrolled, and of these all but seven were in 
the primary and preparatory departments. The agent of the 
institution worked hard to secure funds and was successful. 
But it was not until July, 1860, that the trustees assumed the 
pecuniary responsibility of the institution. At that time they 
felt justified in giving the president and professors each a salary 
of five hundred dollars per annum. During this year there were 
in the institution ninety-one students, of whom only nineteen 
were in the collegiate department. The faculty numbered five 
professors. At the annual commencement of 1861 Harvey C. 
De Motte, of Metamora, and Peter Warner, of Kappa, received 
the degree of Bachelor of Science, and were the first graduates 
under the new organization. Mr. De Motte was immediately 
elected Professor of Mathematics, a position which he retains 
with credit to the institution. 

The institution suffered quite seriously in the autumn and 
winter of 1862 by the volunteering of the students. In the sum- 
mer of 1863 upon a sudden and urgent call from the Governor 
of the State, Professor De Motte and thirty-two out of forty-three 
students then in attendance volunteered for three months, and 
were transferred for garrison duty to Alexandria on the Poto- 
mac. Of the three graduates at this annual commencement one, 
W. C. Adams, was graduated while absent in the army and died 
soon after. Another, Henry W. Boyd, enlisted for the war as a 
private within a week after his graduation ; but having studied 
medicine, he was by his own merit promoted to the rank of 
brigade surgeon. The growth of the University during the war 
was slow but sure, and in 1865 the University became free from 
debt. 

In the year 1866 the Methodist Church in America celebrated 
its first centennial anniversary and the sum of fifty-four thou- 
sand dollars was subscribed on this occasion by the friends of the 
institution. Twenty thousand dollars of this was subscribed by 
the city of Bloomington, and also ten thousand dollars was 

5 



QQ WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 

given by the Funk family to endow the Isaac Funk Professor- 
ship of Agriculture. The total endowment of the University 
was then seventy-nine thousand dollars. In addition to this, the 
various departments of the University had been provided with 
apparatus necessary for them, and the museum of Natural His- 
tory and the libraries had been growing steadily. All of this 
gave the institution a respectable standing, and one of the results 
was an increase in the number of students. 

But the increased number of students made a larger building 
a necessity, and in March, 1868, an educational convention of 
the friends of the University met and decided that the trustees 
should take action in the matter immediately. Before long, 
thirty thousand dollars were subscribed for the building, and of 
this twenty thousand dollars were given by the citizens of Bloom- 
ino-ton. The trustees immediately proceeded with the work in 
accordance with a beautiful plan drawn by R. Richter, Esq., 
architect, of Bloomington. The work was steadily pushed and 
a fine brick building, seventy by one hundred and forty feet, five 
stories high, with a stone basement and Mansard roof, arose as a 
monument of their eftorts. When the time came to finish the 
chapel, Col. W. H. Coler, of Champaign City, stepped forward 
and pledged five thousand dollars for that purpose on the sole 
condition that it should be called Amie Chapel in honor of his 
mother. 

The Belles Lettresand the Munsellian Literary Societies have 
fitted up the halls assigned to them with the finest taste, and 
have expended on them not less than four thousand dollars. 

Amie Chapel was dedicated on the sixteenth of June, 1872, 
by the Rev. B. J. Ives, I). D., of Auburn, New York, and the 
lar^e congregation present celebrated the occasion by subscrib- 
ing twelve thousand dollars to prosecute the work, and it is 
hoped that the entire University building will be finished at an 
early day. 

In 1870 the trustees were called upon to decide whether or not 
ladies should be admitted to the privileges of the University. 
This important question was referred by the trustees to the two 
conferences (the Illinois and Illinois Central), and by their de- 
cision the ladies gained the day, and twenty-five of them were 
immediately enrolled as students. The first lady graduate was 



WESLE1 AN UNIVERSITY. C7 

Hannah I. Slmr, of El Paso, upon whom the degree of Bachelor 
of Science was conferred on the twentieth of June, 1ST.!. The 
courses of study for the ladies arc precisely the same as those 
marked out for the gentlemen. 

The classical and scientific courses of study, both require four 
years in the collegiate department, and one and two years re- 
spectively in the preparatory department. At first the scientific 
course required only three years to complete, but this was 
changed to the present extended course, and now the degree of 
Bachelor of Science means something. 

The department of agriculture is also well attended to. The 
Professorship of Agriculture was endowed by the Funk family 
and is named after Hon. Isaac Funk, of McLean County. It is 
well filled by Bradford S. Potter, A. M., an enthusiast in the 
natural sciences. In addition to the regular collegiate course of 
study, lectures are given on International and Constitutional 
Law ; on Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene, and on Music. 
The lectures on law are delivered by Robert E. Williams, Esq., 
those on Physiology by J. L. "White, M. P., and those on Music 
by Prof. F. A. Parker. These lectures are not designed as 
schools of law and medicine, but it is hoped that they may pre- 
pare the way for the organization of such departments at some 
future time. 

The fact is conceded that the Wesleyan University is yet 
only a college, but its friends are slowly and surely preparing 
the way to make it a university of the highest standing, and add 
to it regular departments of law, medicine and theology. In 
order to do this, time and, most of all, money is required. There 
is hardly a college or university of good standing in existence 
which is self-supporting. The cause of learning everywhere 
must depend upon the generosity of the people. It is not easy 
to over-estimate the effect of a university upon the people of a 
state. It gives them a higher standard by which to judge of 
themselves. The University of Michigan places that State in 
the highest rank among those of the Union and the same may 
be said of the relation of Harvard and Yale to Massachusetts 
and Connecticut. We are called upon then by every considera- 
tion of philanthropy and of patriotism to take care of our schools 
and colleges. It is earnestly hoped that the Weslej^an Univer- 



(38 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 

sity may be remembered by its friends in the future as it has 
been in the past ; that it may grow in numbers, in influence and 
in usefulness; that it may take a leading position among the 
universities of America, and place Illinois in the first rank 
among the States of the Union, in learning and the fine arts. 

Rev. Samuel Fallows, D. D. 

The following biographical notice of Rev. Samuel Fallows, 
the recently chosen President of the Wesleyan University, is 
taken from the Alumni Journal, which republished it from the 
Christian Statesman of Milwaukee, Wis. : 

" Dr. Fallows was born in Manchester, England, December 
13th, 1835. He came to Wisconsin in 1848, and first settled at 
Marshall, Dane County, and has since resided at Galesville, Ap- 
pleton, Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Madison. He has officiated as 
assistant professor in the State University, from which institu- 
tion he graduated in 1859 with the highest honors, being the 
valedictorian of his class. From 1859 to 18(31 he was Vice Presi- 
dent of Galesville University, in this State. He was elected 
Professor in Lawrence University in 1863, and Professor of 
Rhetoric in the State University in 1867, both of which positions 
were declined. He was pastor of Summerfield Church from 
1865 to 1868, and of the Spring Street Church from 1868 to 
1870, in the city of Milwaukee. During his pastorate the latter 
society built one of the most elegant churches in the State. He 
has been a regent of the State University for the past eight 
years. He entered the military service during the late rebellion, 
and was commissioned chaplain of the 32d Wisconsin Volun- 
teers, September, 1862; was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of 
the 40th Wisconsin Volunteers, 1864, and in 1865 was appointed 
Colonel of the 49th Wisconsin Volunteers, and breveted Briga- 
dier General in October of the same year for meritorious service. 
Was appointed State Superintendent, July 5th, 1870, by Gov- 
ernor Fairchild, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of 
Hon. A. J. Craig. In November he was elected to fill the bal- 
ance of the unexpired term. Was renominated by the Republi- 
can State Convention in 1872, and re-elected, and no doubt 
would have been again nominated this year, for the same 
position. 



WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 69 

"As State Superintendent, Dr. Fallows has won a tine repu- 
tation, by his indefatigable, zealous and efficient labors in the 
cause of public education. He has industriously traversed the 
State, organizing teachers' institutes, and delivering sound and 
stirring lectures. His grand object has been to harmonize and 
unify the educational system of the State; and he has assidu- 
ously labored to bring the graded schools and the State Univer- 
sity into line. This may be called the distinctive feature of his 
administration of the office, and, from the progress made, there 
is no doubt that his efforts would have been crowned with suc- 
cess. In recognition of his services in the cause of education 
and religion, Lawrence University last year conferred upon him 
the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. 

"As a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Dr. 
Fallows has been no less efficient and successful, than as an edu- 
cator. As a pulpit orator he has but few superiors, and, when 
announced to speak upon any great question of the day, never 
fails to attract a large audience. Our friends in Illinois will find 
in him not only an efficient educator, but an earnest and elo- 
quent champion of every worthy cause. He will be a valuable 
accession, not only to the Wesleyan University, but to the State 
of Illinois. We part with Dr. Fallows with regret, and heartily 
wish for him a continuance of the abundant success which he 
has heretofore deserved and achieved." 

II. C. De Motte, A. M., 

Professor of Mathematics, and Vice President, was born in 
Greene County, Illinois, July 17, 1838. After having pursued 
certain preparatory studies, he entered the Wesleyan University 
September 1, 1859, was appointed janitor, November 1, in 1860, 
which office in those days was filled by the most worthy student. 
He was appointed tutor in mathematics April, 1861, was gradu- 
ated and elected Professor of Mathematics in June, 1861. He 
entered the Union army as First Lieutenant of Company G, 
68th Regiment Illinois Volunteers, a regiment enlisted for three 
months. He was appointed Assistant Provost Marshal of Alex- 
andria, Va., August 23, 1862. Having been duly mustered out 
of service, he returned to duty as Professor of Mathematics in 
October, 1862, and in June, 1865, as senior professor, he was 



70 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 

made A'iee President of the University. Professor De Motte, 
in the absence of the President, has through a period of nearly 
three years performed the duties of that office with great ef- 
ficiency. 

Rev. J. R. Jaques, A. M., 

Professor of Greek language and Instructor in German, 
was born in Warwickshire, England, December 8, 1828. He 
came to the United States in 1838 ; was trained in district 
school, academy and bookstore from 1840 until 1845 in Palmyra, 
N". Y. During the next three years he was trained in a printing 
office. From 1848 until 1850 he prepared for college in Union 
School, Lyons, N. Y. He was licensed to preach in 1850. Dur- 
ing the same year he entered as Freshman, Genesee College, 
(now Syracuse University) N. Y. ; was tutor in Latin and Greek, 
and graduated as A. B. in 1854. He was for a while principal 
of an academy in Steuben County, N. Y. In 1856 and 1857 
he organized the Mansfield Classical Seminary, Pa., (now State 
Normal School). Released by the temporary suspension of the 
school by the burning of the building in 1857, he was pastor of 
first M. E. Church, Elmira, N. Y., then of the M. E. Church in 
Hornellsville, N. Y., and lastly of first M. E. Church, Roches- 
ter, N. Y. Leaving the pulpit in 1862 on account of throat 
trouble, he taught Latin, Greek and German in the Collegiate 
Institute, Rochester, N. Y. From thence he was called in 1865 
to a chair in the Illinois Wesleyan University for which he had 
given many years to prepare himself by the philological study 
of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, French, Spanish, Italian, 
&c, &c. 

Bradford S. Potter, A. M., 

Professor of Natural Science, was born in Walworth, Wayne 
County, New York, June 5, 1836. He attended the Walworth 
Academy in 1849, and taught district school during the winter 
of 1853 and '54. He entered as classical Freshman Genesee 
College (now Syracuse University), August, 1854. He was Prin- 
cipal of Webster Academy from the winter term of 1856 and 
'57 until the summer of 1858. He returned to college in the 
fall of 1858, and in connection with his studies was employed as 
tutor in Latin in the preparatory department (or Genesee Wes- 



WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 71 

Wan Seminary). He was also employed as teacher of the 
Normal department of Waterloo Academy in the winter of 1859 
and '60. lie graduated as A. B. in 1860. During the next six 
years he taught in New Albany, Indiana, and for a time was 
Principal of Mexico Academy, New York. From New Albany, 
Indiana, he was called in 1860 to Baker University in Kansas, as 
Professor of Mathematics ; but his work as an educator attracted 
the attention of the Trustees of the Illinois Wesleyan Univer- 
sity, and in 1867 he was called to his present position, which for 
six years he has maintained with success. 

S. S. Hamill, A. M. 

Professor of Elocution and English Language and Literature 
was born in Butler County, Ohio, March 19, 1833. Having com- 
pleted his academic course, he entered the Freshman class of 
Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, Sept. 10, 1850. He was elected 
instructor in Elocution in Monmouth College, Illinois, in 1857, 
and entered as a Junior in the classical course. In 1858 he was 
elected Instructor in Elocution in Knox College, where he grad- 
uated iu the classical course, June, 1859. For ten years he taught 
elocution in nearly every leading college between the Hudson 
River and the Missouri, including Michigan University, Gettys- 
burg College, &c. He traveled from one college to another. In 
1860 he was elected Professor of Elocution in Monmouth Col- 
lege and in 1868 he was called to the same chair in the Illinois 
Wesleyan University, and in 1870 the department of English 
Language and Literature was added. In 1872 Professor Hamill's 
text book, entitled "Science of Elocution" was published, and 
new editions were soon called for. This book has received the 
favorable notice of the highest authorities in the L T nited States. 
Professor Hamill, as a dramatic reader, has a wide reputation. 

Since the above notice of Professor Hamill was written he 
has accepted a position in the North Missouri Normal School at 
Kirksville, as Professor of Elocution. 

Geo. R. Crow, A. M., 

Professor of Latin, was born in Ohio, Sept. 26, 1832. He 
graduated in the Ohio Wesleyan University in 1861, with the 
degree of A. B. He enlisted in the army, July, 1862, and took 



72 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 

part in all the important engagements of the Army of the Cum- 
berland from the battle at Perry ville, Ky., October, 1862, to the 
battle of Nashville, December 16, 1864, including the pursuit of 
Genera] Bragg and the expedition to Atlanta, Ga. For distin- 
guished services at the battle of Murfreesborough he was com- 
plimented by his commander and soon after promoted to the 
rank of Captain. On account of his special qualifications he 
was assigned to the corps of Engineers. Here he was engaged 
in making surveys of the country in advance of the army in its 
southward march, and in superintending the construction of for- 
tifications and lines of defence. After the close of the war he 
engaged in agricultural pursuits in Logan County, Illinois, until 
August, 1870, when he was elected Professor in the Illinois Wes- 
leyan University, which position he has filled with marked 
ability. 

Prof. Jennie Fowler Willing, A. M., 

Was born in Canada West, January 22, 1834. She removed to 
New York in 1840, and in 1842 settled in Kendall County, 111. 
At the age of nineteen she was married to Rev. W. C. Willing of 
Western New York. After a residence of seven years in New 
York she returned to Illinois. She began writing for the press at 
sixteen, which, with teaching and other duties, she has continued 
till the present time. In 1862, being relieved of other duties, 
she gave close attention to literature till called to more public 
duties. Her contributions to the periodical press have been 
numerous and highly prized. She wrote a serial for the New 
York Methodist, entitled "Underground;" also a volume of reli- 
gious fiction, entitled "Through the Dark to the Day." She has 
a wide reputation as a public speaker, having delivered anniver- 
sary addresses in the principal cities East and West. In 1869 
she was made one of the three corresponding secretaries of 
the newly formed "Woman's Foreign Missionary Society" of the 
M. E. Church. Of late years, she has had charge of the North- 
western branch of this society, with headquarters in Chicago, 
traveling through all the States of the Northwest, organizing 
societies, delivering addresses and serving as one of the editors 
of the Heathen Woman's FrieMd. By the general Conference of 
1872, in Brooklyn, N. Y., she was elected a manager of the 



WKSLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 73 

Ladies' and Pastors' Christian Union. She is a secretary of the 
Evanston Educational Association, Trustee of Northwestern 
University, &c, &c. She was licensed to preach by the Joliet 
District Conference in 1873. She has the degree of M. E. L. 
from Jennings Seminary, and the degree of A. M. from the 
Northwestern University. In the summer of 1873, she was 
elected Professor of English language and literature in the 
Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington. 



PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 



Bloomington Business College. 

This institution is under the control of M. De La Brown, 
proprietor and principal. The object of this business college is 
to teach penmanship and book-keeping. Penmanship is taught 
in three departments, the business, the teacher's and the pri- 
mary. The first is made up of those who desire to become first- 
class business penmen ; the second is for those who wish to fit 
themselves for teaching penmanship, and the third is for begin- 
ners. All branches of book-keeping are taught thoroughly. It 
is not easy to over-estimate the great advantages of thorough 
training m business, and the ability to keep books is one of the 
most important qualifications of a business man. M. De La 
Brown, the present proprietor of the Business College, took 
charge of it in January, 1870, and since then it has been in a 
flourishing: condition. Its location is on the southwest corner 
of North Centre and Washington streets, over the Peoples' Bank. 

German School. 

This school was founded in 1863, for the purpose of giving 
instruction in all common branches of study. The instruction 
is given in German, though the rudiments of English are taught. 
The school numbers from seventy-five to ninety scholars, of all 
ages and both sexes. The property of the society is valued at 
fourteen thousand dollars, and is under the control of the Ger- 
man English Society. The officers of the society are : 

L. Theis, President; William Schausten, Vice President; 
F. Volz, Secretary ; Frank Oberkoetter, Treasurer. 

The Trustees are : Henry Neuburg, Wm. Schausten and C. 
A. Price. 

The teacher of the school is F. C. Finkbohner. Mr. Fink- 
bohner was born July 14, 1833, in Wurtemberg. In early life 



76 PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 

he showed a scholastic turn of mind. In 1850 he went to the 
University of Tuehingen and for four years studied theology and 
philosophy. After receiving his degree, he was for six years 
pastor in "VVurtemberg and Switzerland. But he was very free 
in his opinions, and this led him to abandon the ministry. He 
emigrated to America in 1860, and for three years was the pastor 
of a Lutheran congregation in New Jersey. For a few years 
afterwards he was a teacher in a German-English school in De- 
troit, Michigan. In 1866 he came to Bloomington, and from 
that time until the present has had charge of the German school 
here. He was first employed on a salary, but now is paid by the 
scholar. He is a man of fine ability and high attainments. He 
is conscientious and independent in his opinions, and has been 
obliged to suffer because of them. 

" I honor the man, who is willing to sink 
Half his present repute for the freedom to think ; 
And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, 
Will risk t'other half for the freedom to speak." 

Bloomington Female Seminary. 

This school was established in September, 1856, by Rev. R. 
Conover, for the education and moral training of young ladies 
and misses. The principal says that the aim of the Seminary is 
to secure "thorough scholarship, exemplary morals and lady-like 
and accomplished manners." The school, which is located 
at 507 East Grove street, has four teachers connected with it, 
including the principal. The number of pupils is limited, and 
each receives very careful attention. The institution has 
been conducted for seventeen years by its founder, and has ful- 
filled all expectation. It has prospered with the best free school 
system in the "West, and with other liberally endowed state and 
denominational institutions. It is thought that with the growth 
of the West in numbers and wealth, the demand for this school 
will be increased by such as desire to educate their daughters 
thoroughly in a quiet and unpretending manner. 

Rev. R. Conover, the founder and principal of this Seminary, 
has nearly all of his life taken an interest in educational and 
religious matters. He organized the first Presbyterian Church 
in Towanda township, and of this church he is still the pastor. 



BLOOMINGTON LIBRARY. 



The Libraiy of Bloomington is one of the oldest established in- 
stitutions of the city. It was organized in 1856, and though 
at tirst small, its growth has been sure. The Libraiy is located 
on North street, between Main and Centre streets. The Presi- 
dent of the Library is Richard H. Holder, Esq., who takes the 
liveliest interest in its success. The Corresponding Secretary is 
Charles L. Capen and Mrs. H. R. Galliner, Librarian. The 
Library has now on its shelves five thousand eight hundred and 
seven volumes. The number of life members is one hundred 
and seventy-five ; the number of transient subscribers is three 
hundred and twenty, and the daily attendance of readers is one 
hundred and twenty-three. The following, taken from the re- 
port of the Board of Managers for the year closing March, 1873, 
shows more than anything else the value of the Library, and its 
influence over the rising generation of Bloomington: 

"More persons have taken books and more have circulated 
than ever before. Twenty-six thousand volumes have been 
drawn by nine hundred and twenty-five subscribers. About 
thirty thousand persons have visited the Library rooms within 
the year ; and it is pleasant to note the fact that a large propor- 
tion of these visitors have been young men and boys, who are 
thus acquiring and strengthening tastes which can hardly fail to 
prove valuable safeguards in after life. The gratifying increase 
in the number of readers and visitors is doubtless due, in a 
measure, to the attractions furnished by the reading tables." 

From the Librarian's report for the same date, the following 
is taken : 

" Three thousand more books have been given out this year 
than in any previous one. Twice the amount of money has 
been expended for books, and more historical and valuable works 



78 BLOOMINGTON LIBRARY. 

have been added. Among the additions were forty-seven old 
and rare historical works. Twenty-five volumes are worn out 
and need to be replaced. The increased attendance of readers 
in the Library over last year has been seven thousand." 

It is hard to over-estimate the good influence of a popular 
Library. The books, which are first read, are of the most popu- 
lar kind, but gradually a taste for better literature is cultivated, 
and a demand for the best class of books is manifested. It is 
seen by the report that thirty thousand persons visited the Li- 
brary in one year, and when we consider that the population of 
Bloomington is only about twenty thousand it will be seen what 
a vast influence is exerted by this single institution. The peo- 
ple of Bloomington have been remarkably liberal in their dona- 
tions of money and books, which shows how well the Library 
is appreciated. Their generosity is richly deserved. 



M'LEAN COUNTY COAL COMPANY. 



In 1867 four enterprising young men of Bloomington formed a 
company for the purpose of opening a coal mine in the city. At 
the same time (or shortly afterwards) another company was or- 
ganized by 0. Vaughan, M. T. Scott, Dr. T. F. "Worrell, H. A. 
Ewing, A. E. and J. B. Stevenson under the name of "McLean 
County Coal Company," both companies immediately sunk their 
shafts striking coal at the depth of about three hundred feet. 
After working this vein for a year or more they sunk again to a 
second vein, which was found about one hundred feet below the 
first, and proved to be of a better quality, but also very expensive 
to work. After a period of about three years of discourage- 
ment and unforeseen difficulties the McLean County Coal Com- 
pany again prospected and found a third vein of coal about one 
hundred and forty feet below their second. The shaft was im- 
mediately lowered and coal struck July 30th, 1870, five hundred 
and forty feetbelow the surface, being the deepest working shaft 
in the State. This vein has proved to be of the very best qual- 
ity, although great expense is incurred in mining it. The first 
company deciding not to sink farther than their second vein, 
finally abandoned their enterprise as a failure. The McLean 
County Coal Company are now raising from three hundred and 
fifty to four hundred tons of coil per day, and their pay rolls 
amounting from $16,000 to $19,000 per month, giving employ- 
ment to about three hundred men, reducing the price of coal to 
half of its former cost, and saving many thousand dollars to this 
community. In fact it has been of incalculable benefit to the 
city and country, and it is hoped will yet prove a success finan- 
cially to those who have shown such indomitable will and pluck 
in carrying through that which has proved to be an immense en- 
terprise. Below is appended a table of the different stratas 
passed through in reaching the third vein : 



80 m'lean county coal company. 

Feet. In 

Surface soil, sand and gravel 19 7 

Blue clay 61 2 

Sand and water 4 

Blue clay 76 4 

Soapstone 39 

Lime rock 1 

Blue clay 35 5 

Yellow clay 15 10 

Soft shelly rock 4 

Soft gray sandstone 11 

Conglomerate lime stone (bard) 12 6 

Soapstone 5 

Coal (first vein abandoned) 3 6 

Fire clay 9 3 

Gray sandstone -4 

Soapstone 22 6 

Dark shale 8 6 

Soapstone , 9 6 

Fire clay 10 

Gray slate .• 22 

Black slate 5 

Coal (present vein, 2d) 4 4 

Fire clay 10 

Slate 3 

Fire clay 4 

Sand rock 20 6 

Soapstone 62 5 

Black slate 2 7 

Fire clay 1 7 

Sulphurous rock 1 2 

Gray slate 11 1 

Shale 1 2 

Hard lime rock 2 1 

Gray slate 2 8 

Soapstone 6 8 

Coal (3d vein) 3 8 

Soapstone, coal and slate 25 

Total 541 8 



GERMAN SOCIETIES. 



Bloomington Turn-Verein. 

The aim of the society is to develop the physical system by 
means of gymnastic exercises, and to cultivate the intellect by 
literary entertainments. The society also renders assistance to 
members in sickness or distress. The society was organized in 
April, 1855. Their business meetings are held on the first and 
third Friday in each month, in their hall on Madison street. 
Meetings for gymnastic exercises are held on Tuesday and 
Thursday of each week. The members of the Turn-Vereiu 
make great exertions to obtain lecturers. They pay great atten- 
tion to music, and during the winter mouths have concerts, 
where the most classical pieces are performed and the finest 
musical taste is exhibited. They also have theatrical pieces at 
their exhibitions, which are of the best character. 

Bloomington Turn-Gemeinde. 

This society was chartered in January, 1872. It had existed 
for some years previous, but was not incorporated. Its present 
charter was obtained by W. B. Carlock, Esq., one of Blooming- 
ton's enterprising young lawyers. The meetings of the Turn- 
Gemeinde are held on the first and third Tuesday of each 
month. Their hall is on the southeast corner of Chestnut and 
Lumber streets. The objects of the society are physical develop- 
ment and mental improvement. 



RAILROADS. 



Chicago & Alton Railroad. 

On the seventeenth of February, 1847, an act was passed by 
the Legislature, granting a charter for the construction of a rail- 
road from Alton to Springfield, to be known as the Alton & 
Sangamon road. It was to be built by way of Carlinville and 
New Berlin, and was to have a capital stock of five hundred 
thousand dollars, which might be increased to one million. 
The prime mover in the matter was Benjamin Godfrey, a noted 
man at Alton. The road was constructed, and on the eleventh 
of February, 1851, an act was passed authorizing the railroad 
company to extend the road to Bloomington, and for this pur- 
pose power was given to increase the stock, not exceeding one 
million dollars. Six years afterwards, February 17th, an act 
was passed allowing the Alton and Sangamon Company to con- 
struct a branch, from some point between Springfield and 
Bloomington, to Pekin and Peoria, and for this purpose were 
allowed to increase their capital stock five hundred thousand 
dollars. The road was completed to Bloomington in 1852, and 
on June 19th of that year the company was authorized «to ex- 
tend its road from the latter place to connect with the Chicago 
& Rock Island Railroad, at a point not west of Ottawa nor east 
of Joliet; and the company might, at its option, extend its road 
by way of the latter place to Chicago. The name of the com- 
pany was changed to one more comprehensive, and it was called 
the Chicago & Mississippi Railroad Company. The capital 
stock was not allowed to exceed three and a half millions of 
dollars. On the eleventh of February, 1863, the company was 
allowed to increase its capital stock to eight millions of dollars, 
and was authorized to borrow money and issue "preferred 



84 RAILROADS. 

stock." But it did not stop here; it grew with the growth of 
the country, and on the 14th of February, 1855, its name was 
changed to the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, and it was 
authorized to use the road of the Terre Haute & Alton Com- 
pany from Alton to near Wood River. There it was authorized 
to unite with the Belleville & Illinoistown Railroad and to make 
contracts with the Belleville & Illinoistown Company. On 
the eighteenth of February, 1861, the company was authorized 
to sell the road to William B. Ogden, Jacob Buun and others, 
and after such sale the name might be changed to the Chicago 
<fc Alton Railroad Company. The sale was effected and the 
name was accordingly changed. On the first of January, 1864, 
the company leased the Joliet & Chicago Railroad, and on the 
sixteenth of April following leased the road of the Alton & St. 
Louis Company, between the two latter places. The business 
of the company, under good management, has grown rapidly 
and the corporation is now the wealthiest in the State. The 
railroad has been put in Class A. by the Railroad Commis- 
sioners of the State, and stands alone in this grade. 

The following description of the machine shops of the Chi- 
cago and Alton road, is condensed and revised from articles 
published in the Pantograph, in May, 1870 : 

"The machine shops of the Chicago and Alton Railroad cover 
forty acres of ground. They„are divided into fifteen buildings. 
The store house of the company is a fine building, sixty by one 
hundred and twenty feet, and two stories high. It is built of 
Joliet stone, and is roofed with slate, supported by iron frame 
work. The first floor is used as the store-room, and here can 
be foand everything necessary for repairing engines or cars. If 
by accident a car or locomotive is broken, the storekeeper is im- 
mediately informed by telegraph and in ten minutes he finds 
the necessary articles for repairing the damage, and they are 
sent to the spot by an engine. The value of the articles in the 
store room is estimated at four hundred thousand dollars. They 
are under the charge of Robert Bell, Storekeeper. In the hall of 
this building is the clock, which furnishes the time for the road. 
It keeps Chicago time, which is used on the entire road, and is 
about five minutes faster than Bloomington time. It has become 
the time generally used in Bloomington. On the upper floor 



RAILROADS. 85 

are the offices of the various departments of the road. Here is 
the office of O. Vaughan, the assistant superintendent and 
train master, who directs the running of all trains on the road 
and its branches. Adjoining this is the office of superintendent 
of telegraph, C. H. Seaver. There are five instruments in use 
for night and eleven for day work. They are improved instru- 
ments of Mr. Seaver's own invention, and are manufactured at 
Ottawa. The battery-room is lower than the ground floor, with 
a stone flagging pavement. A Grove battery of fifty cups is 
used to supply electricity for all the telegraph lines of the road. 
It is perfectly insulated. The Hill battery is used for local pur- 
poses. On the upper floor is the office of J. A. Jackman, 
superintendent of machinery. He has general charge of all the 
machine shops, and furnishes the designs by which all locomo- 
tives, boilers and articles of use in the shops are made. The 
conductors' room is the headquarters of the conductors when off 
duty. In the northeast corner of the building is the office of 
Rufua Ueniff, the superintendent of the car shops, and adjoining 
is the office of Thomas White, the roadmaster of the 3d divi- 
sion. On the same floor H. J. Stierlin, the car-accountant and 
train master's clerk, has his office. Here are kept the accounts 
of cars loaned to various railroads. 

The car-shops, under Rufus Reniff, superintendent, are in a 
building two hundred and sixty-three feet by eighty, built of 
stone, with a wrought-iron truss roof covered with slate. During 
cold weather the building is heated by steam. One-half of this 
building is used for making passenger cars, and the other half for 
freight cars. The Reniff & Buttolph ventilator, and President 
Blackstone's platform and coupler are used on all passenger 
coaches. The latter invention is considered of great importance 
by railroad men, as the cars are kept in actual contact, and it is 
almost impossible for one of them to be thrown from the track. 

The planing and car machine shops are in a building two 
hundred feet by seventy-five. Here the various parts of cars 
are made. Mr. L. E. Munson is foreman of the woodwork. A 
part of this building is used for the iron machine shops. On the 
same floor is a machine for pressing car wheels on their axles. 
It is an hydraulic press driven by steam, and exerts a pressure 



86 RAILROADS. 

of five thousand pounds per square inch, or one hundred and 
fifty-seven tons upon the end of an axle. 

The engine room contains the engine to drive the machinery 
of the building. It is of eight} T horse power, and works with 
scarcely any noise, as it drives a belt twenty-three inches in 
width. 

The paint shop is in a building one hundred and seventy by 
seventy-five feet, made of stone with an iron-trussed slated roof. 
The shop was under the charge of M. E. McGrath, now deceased, 
as foreman. In the varnishing room all the ornamental painting 
is done and the glass-etching. The latter is accomplished by 
the use of fluoric acid. The glass is coated with parafine, the 
pattern is marked out, the parafine removed from all the glass, 
except the ornamental pattern, and the fluoric acid is applied. 
It acts upon the glass exposed and gives it a frosted appearance. 
On the upper floor is the trimming room under the charge of 
G. J. Rawson. Here all the trimming of the seats and cushions 
is done. 

The paint shop proper is on the upper floor, and in it is to be 
found at all times from six to nine coaches and sleeping cars in 
the hands of the finishers and painters. The landscapes and 
flower pieces are done by P. M. Jander, a first-class artist. 

The dry house is a brick building, nineteen by sixty-three 
feet. It is heated by steam. All the lumber used in building' 
cars is dried in it. 

The foundry is a building one hundred and eighty feet by 
sixty with an L-shaped addition forty by fifty feet. It is built in 
the same manner as the buildings previously described. It is 
under the charge of M. A. Moulton, who makes all the castings 
for the company under contract. 

The new round house, near the foundry, is two hundred and 
forty feet in diameter, and has room for twenty-eight locomo- 
tives. In the center is an iron frame turn-table. 

The blacksmith shop is built of stone, and has fifty forges, 
two furnaces and eight steam hammers. One of these hammers 
weighs three thousand pounds, one weighs fifteen hundred, and 
the remainder weigh from eight to twelve hundred pounds. The 
shop is superintended by William Hughes. 



RAILROADS. 87 

The boiler shop is one hundred and fifty by sixty feet, and is 
under the charge of J. E. Eastman. The boilers built allow 
four hundred and fifty pounds pressure to the square inch, but 
in actual use not more than one hundred and thirty pounds pres- 
sure is exerted at the highest. 

The machine shop, J. A. Jackman, Jr., foreman, is two 
hundred and sixty feet by one hundred, with two additions, one 
forty-five by fifty feet for engine and boiler room, and the other 
forty-five by eighty feet. On the south side of this shop is the 
locomotive transfer table, three hundred feet in length, from 
Avhich fourteen tracks extend into the building, where engines 
are taken in for repair. 

The brass foundry and coppersmith shops are located near by. 

The new round-house has already been referred to, but an- 
other round-house of the same size, two hundred and forty feet 
in diameter and holding twenty-eight locomotives, was con- 
structed. A bulletin-board is kept, on which is daily posted 
the time of the departure of each train and the name of the 
engineer to run it. Both of the round-houses are in charge of 
A. A. Ackley. The old machine and repair shops are in a 
building two hundred and seventy feet long and forty feet wide. 
Here are lathes, planes, drills and many other machines for 
saving labor. 

The pattern shop, where the patterns for castings are made, 
is under the charge of Frank White. The coppersmith shop is 
north of the machine shop, and here all the brazing is done and 
the joining of metals. 

Near by is the wheel foundry, which uses the best of iron. 
The wheels used seldom or never break. 

The rolling mill in Major's Grove, near by, is one hundred 
and thirty-two feet by fifty-seven, and has two smoke-stacks. 

The well, close by, is thirty feet in diameter and thirty feet 
in depth, and is supplied by an inexhaustible underground 
stream. The pumping-house is near the well, and the pumps 
of the Knowles' pattern, worked by steam, force the water 
through underground pipes to all parts of the depot and shop 
grounds. The switching ground is about a mile in length, and 
extends from the coal shaft on the south to Seminary avenue on 



88 RAILROADS. 

the north. This ground is called " the yard," and is under the 
charge of John Weichlin. All trains are made up here. 

All the shops of the company are well lighted by gas and 
kept in the most perfect order. 

The following items are of interest to those who are curious 
to know what it costs to manage a railroad : " 

The company uses for lubricating machinery and burning in 
lamps, thirty-two thousand one hundred and seventeen pints of 
oil per month, worth $2,816.19. It uses nine thousand one 
hundred and fifty-nine tons of fuel per month, worth $24,134. 
The repairs cost, per month, $20,516.48. The number of en- 
gines on the road is one hundred and fifty-six, and the number 
of miles traveled by them, per month, is three hundred and 
thirty-seven thousand five hundred and sixty eight. The wages 
paid in the machinery and car departments at Bloomington, per 
month, are : 

Machinery department $45,000 

Car " 18,600— $63,600 

Of this, employes living in Bloomington receive, $43,278 
per month. The conductors, brakemen, telegraph operators 
and switchmen receive $20,000, of which, those in Bloomington 
receive about $14,400. The total paid out per month, in Bloom- 
ington, is $57,678. The average cost per mile run of an engine 
is about 22.95-100 cents. The number of employes in Bloom- 
ington is: In machine shops, 280; in the car shops, 230; engi- 
neers, 80 ; firemen, 90. Total, 680. 

The following are the connections of the Chicago & Alton 
Railroad : 

Great Eastern Railroad crosses Chicago & Alton at Brighton 
Course. 

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad crosses at Joliet, 
the Chicago & Alton passenger station. 

At Dwight Junction the main line of the Chicago & Alton 
Railroad joins with the Western Division. 

At Pontiac the Chicago & Paducah Railroad crosses the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad. The Chicago & Alton Railroad runs 
through cars between Chicago aud the terminus of the Chicago 
& Paducah Railroad. The Toledo, Peoria & Wabash crosses at 
Chenoa. Passenger station for both roads at the junction. 



RAILROADS. 89 

The Illinois Central Railroad crosses at Normal. Passenger 
station for both roads at the junction. 

Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western crosses at Blooming- 
ton. Passenger station for both roads at the junction. Also 
junction of main line with Jacksonville Division. 

At Lincoln the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Pail- 
road and the Pekin, Lincoln & Decatur Railroad cross the Chi- 
cago & Alton Railroad. 

The Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad crosses Chicago & 
Alton Railroad at Springfield. Passenger station for both roads 
at the junction. The Springfield k Southeastern Railroad also 
crosses here. 

The Edwardsville Railroad runs up to Edwardsville Junction 
and uses the same depot with the Chicago & Alton Railroad. 

The Ohio & Mississippi crosses Chicago & Alton Railroad at 
Venice. 

At Godfrey the Alton Branch of the Jacksonville Division 
joins main line of Chicago & Alton Railroad. 

The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad crosses 
Chicago & Alton Railroad at Delavan. 

Springfield & Southeastern Railroad crosses the Chicago & 
Alton Railroad at Ashland. 

The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad crosses 
Jacksonville Branch of Chicago k Alton Railroad at Mason City. 

The Farmers' Railroad crosses Chicago & Alton Railroad at 
Jacksonville. 

The Rockford k Rock Island Railroad crosses main line of 
Chicago k Alton Railroad at Brighton. 

The Rockford k Rock Island Railroad crosses Alton Branch 
of Jacksonville Division at Whitehall. 

At Pike the Quincy, Alton and St. Louis Railroad joins the 
Chicago k Alton Railroad. Both roads use the same passenger 
depot. 

The St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroad crosses the 
Missouri Division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Mexico. 
Both roads use the same depot. 

The Toledo, Peoria & Wabash Railroad crosses at Washing- 
ton Station, the division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, which 
branches from main line at Dwight. 



90 RAILROADS. 

At Pontiac the main line of the Chicago & Alton Railroad is 
crossed by the Chicago & Paducah Railroad. 

Illinois Central Railroad. 

A central railroad for the State of Illinois was suggested by 
Judge Breese, now of the Supreme Court, at a very early day, 
some time before the session of the Illinois Legislature in 
1832-3. In the State Senate at this session Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor Jenkins proposed a survey of a railroad from Peru to 
Cairo, but nothing was done for some years afterwards. The 
idea was not suffered to perish but was revived from time to 
time. The matter was brought before Congress, and that body 
was asked to donate public lauds in aid of the work. But the 
scheme was rejected, as it was considered a matter of local im- 
portance. It was reserved for the brain of Stephen A. Douglas 
to invent the method of carrying the measure through. He saw 
that it must in some way be made a matter of national import- 
ance, and he devised a plan which w r as comprehensive and in- 
genious, and carried it out boldly and confidently. His plan 
was to give the alternate sections of land in Illinois for 
six miles on each side of the railroad. The company was 
authorized to an extreme limit of twelve miles on each side for 
the purpose of making good deficiencies caused by entries of 
lands prior to this act and to issue the full amount of land in- 
tended thus to be donated to the State to enable it to build a 
railroad, and to charge $2.50 for the remaining sections instead 
of $1.25. In order to enlist the support of the senators and 
representatives from other states, his plan was to provide for the 
extension of the road from Cairo to Mobile, Alabama, which 
has been put in actual operation, only this winter, throughout. 
His scheme embraced the construction of a road from Little 
Rock, Ark., to Texas by way of the Red River Raft, also an ex- 
tension of the Illinois Central road from Galena to a point op- 
posite Dubuque, Iowa ; a branch to Mineral Point, Wis., and a 
brunch to Chicago. He proposed to give an appropriation to 
the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad, to favor the interests of Mis- 
souri, and to do something for a railroad in Michigan, extend- 
ing from Detroit to the lumber regions. After an interval of a 
quarter of a century, only a part of this vast plan has been car- 



RAILROADS. 91 

ried out, but it served its purpose, and the votes of senators and 
representatives were secured for the donation of lands for the 
building of the Illinois Central Railroad. On the liOth of Sep- 
tember, 1850, Congress passed the act entitled "An act granting 
the right of way and making a grant of laud to the States of 
Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama in aid of the construction of a 
railroad from Chicago to Mobile." As soon as the act was 
passed various New York and Boston eapitalists were anxious 
to build the railroad, and the State of Illinois granted them a 
charter for the Illinois Central road on the 10th of February, 
1851. By this charter the railroad company was given the al- 
ternate sections donated by Congress to the State of Illinois. 
The company was allowed a capital stock of one million dollars, 
which might be increased not to exceed the entire amount ex- 
pended on the road. The charter vested the control of the 
railroad in thirteen directors, one of whom was the Governor 
of Illinois. The State of Illinois looked out for number one 
in granting the charter, for it provided that seven per cent, of 
the gross earnings of the railroad should be paid into the treas- 
ury of the State. The road was immediately built, and the 
country of Central Illinois was rapidly developed. The large 
waste lands were broken, and the crops of prairie grass gave 
place to crops of wheat and corn. The Illinois Central Railroad 
is now one of the largest and most important lines in the world. 
It extends from Dunleith to Cairo with a branch to Chicago, 
and with various leases and connections it reaches the lumber 
regions of the [North and the stock raising country of Central 
and Southern Illinois. The following are the connections of the 
road : 

At Chicago with Chicago & jSTorthwestern ; Chicago, Rock 
Island <fc Pacific; and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and Mil- 
waukee Railroads. 

With Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and Pittsburgh, Fort 
Wayne & Chicago Railways. 

At Calumet with Michigan Central Railroad. 

With Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway at Gilman. 

With Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway at 
Champaign. 

With Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad at Tolono. 



92 RAILROADS. 

With Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad at Mattoon. 

With St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute & Indianapolis Rail- 
road at Effingham, forming a through line without change of cars 
between Chicago and St. Louis. 

With Springfield & Illinois Southeastern Railroad. 

With Ohio & Mississippi Railway at Odin. 

With St. Louis & Southeastern Railroad at Ashley. 

With Belleville & Southern Illinois Railroad at DuQuoin, 
forming, in connection with Illinois Central Railroad, a short 
line between St. Louis and Cairo. 

With Grand Tower Railroad at Carbondale. 

At Cairo with Mississippi Central Railroad, forming a great 
trunk route from Chicago to New Orleans without change of 
cars ; also with Mobile & Ohio Railroad for Mobile, and with 
the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad for Little Rock, Fulton, 
Houston, and points in Arkansas and Texas. 

With Mobile & Ohio Railroad and connections. 

At St. Louis with Pacific of Missouri, St. Louis, Kansas City 
& Northern Missouri and Atlantic & Pacific ; Missouri, Kansas 
& Texas Railroad. 

At Waterloo and Cedar Falls with Burlington, Cedar 
Rapids k Minnesota Railroad. 

With Des Moines Valley Railroads at Fort Dodge. 

Connections of Northern and Iowa Divisions : 

At Aekley with Central Railroad of Iowa. 

At Farley with Dubuque & Southwestern Railroad. 

At Dubuque with Chicago, Dubuque & Minnesota Railroad. 

At Warren with Mineral Point Railroad. 

At Freeport with Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and 
Western Union Railroad. 

At Forriston with Chicago & Iowa Railroad, which, in con- 
nection with the Illinois Central Railroad, forms a through route 
without change of cars between Chicago and Dubuque. 

At Dixon with Chicago & North western Railway. 

At Mendota with Chicago, Burlington & Qnincy Railroad. 

At La Salle with Chicago, Rock Island <fc Pacific Railroad. 

At El Paso with Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway. 

Crossing of the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Normal. 

At Bloomington with Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western 
Railwaj*. 



RAILROADS. 93 

At Decatur with Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway. 

At Pana with Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad and Spring- 
field, Illinois & Southeastern Railway. 

At Vandalia with St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute & In- 
dianapolis Railroad. 

At Sandoval with Ohio & Mississippi Railway. 

At Centralia with line to Cairo. 

Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway. 

On the twenty-sixth of June, 1866, fifteen or twenty persons 
met in the court house in the city of Urbana, Champaign County, 
Illinois, for the purpose of taking steps to secure the construc- 
tion of a railroad from Danville, 111., to the Illinois River. This 
was the small beginning from which came the Indianapolis, 
Bloomington & Western Railroad. Very little was done at this 
meeting, the parties present merely exchanged views and ad- 
journed to meet on the seventh of August, at Leroy. The at- 
tendance at Leroy was large, delegates being present from va- 
rious places along the line of the proposed road. The matter 
was discussed at some length and all things looked hopeful. 
Every one thought the road necessary as well as practicable. 
But the meeting adjourned without organizing and another was 
called for the twenty-seventh of August. The enterprise was 
then fully discussed by the newspapers, and when the time for 
the meeting came some opposition to the road was manifested. 
It was a matter of some difficulty to effect an organization, nev- 
ertheless it was done under the general railroad law of the State. 
This law required one thousand dollars to be subscribed for every 
mile of the proposed road, and ten per cent, of this to be paid 
in. The law was a good one, though it caused some trouble to 
the originators of this railroad. But after some delay the various 
towns along the line subscribed the required amount and paid 
up the necessary ten per cent. This, as nearly every one in this 
section of the country knows, was accomplished through the 
efforts of Dr. Henry Conkling, who worked for the road with 
great zeal and wonderful success. The road proposed was one 
hundred and sixteen miles in length and the subscriptions 
amounted to one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars. The 



94 RAILROADS. 

company immediately elected officers, making C. R. Griggs, 
President ; William T. McCord, Vice President, and Dr. Henry 
Conkling, Secretary. The necessary papers were filed with the 
Secretary of State, and during the following winter the Legisla- 
ture gave them a charter, which was approved by the Governor 
on the twenty-eighth of February, 1867. The road was then 
called the Danville, Urbana, Bloomington & Pekin Railroad. 

This charter was adopted by the company at a meeting held 
in Pekin on the twenty-seventh of the following March, and 
officers and directors were elected. Commissioners were imme- 
diately appointed to secure the right of way and push the work. 
Steps were taken to obtain subscriptions, and indeed it was clear 
that the matter was in the hands of live, active men, who under- 
stood their business, and were determined to go through at all 
hazards. Most of the cities and towns responded to the call and 
subscribed to the stock to the amount of eight hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars. The road had three divisions. The first ex- 
tended from Danville to Champaign City, where it connected 
with a branch of the Illinois Central ; the second extended from 
Champaign City to Bloomington, where it connected with the 
Chicago, Alton & St. Louis road ; and the third extended from 
Bloomington to Pekin on the Illinois River. Work on the road 
was commenced on the first of October, 1867, and, notwith- 
standing some unavoidable delays, the last rail was laid in the 
city of Bloomington on the first of May, 1870. While this road 
was being built another road was projected from Indianapolis to 
Danville, known as the Indianapolis, Crawfordsville & Danville 
Railroad, and in August, 1869, the two roads were consolidated 
under the name of the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western, 
extending from Indianapolis to Pekin, a distance of two hundred 
and two miles. Since then the road has been extended to sev- 
eral points. One extension connects Pekin and Peoria, another 
extension runs from Urbana to Havana on the Illinois River, and 
a third extension runs from Danville to Monticello and Decatur. 
The road now runs through more than five hundred miles of the 
richest and prettiest country in the West. On its line of road are 
found some of the most enterprising and thriving inland towns. 
Among these are Peoria, Pekin, Bloomington, Champaign, Ur- 
bana, Danville, Covington, Crawfordsville, Indianapolis, Monti- 



RAILROADS. 95 

cello, Decatur, Clinton, Lincoln and Havana. The farming 
lands along the road are all well fenced and cultivated. A great 
abundance of the best coal in Illinois is found on the line of the 
road, and wood of excellent quality in the State of Indiana. 
The road is now in its infancy ; nevertheless it will compare fa- 
vorably in its construction and rolling stock with the best and 
oldest roads in the State. Its connections with other roads are 
good. Going East it connects at Indianapolis with the Pan 
Handle & Pennsylvania Railroad to New York; going West it 
connects at Peoria with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy to 
Omaha and the Pacific coast, or with the Peoria & Pock Island 
road to Rock Island and Davenport. The fine country through 
which it passes, its connections and enterprising management 
give this road a promising future. 

The Lafayette, Bloomlngton & Mississippi Railway. 

The items for the following sketch of the Lafayette, Bloom- 
ington & Mississippi Railway have been furnished by Colonel 0. 
T. Reeves : 

The Lafayette, Bloomington & Mississippi Railway Company 
was chartered in February, 1867, and was organized in the Sep- 
tember following, A. Gridley was elected President ; C. W. 
Holder, Treasurer, and 0. T. Reeves, Secretary. These officers 
served until January 31, 1872, when the management of the road 
passed into the hands of parties in New York, interested in the 
Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway. A. B. Ives, J. H. Cheney, 
of Bloomington, and W. H. Pells, of Paxton, were, with the 
officers above named, the managing spirits of the enterprise. 
The capital stock of the company is $1,000,000. Of this $467,- 
000 is held b} r McLean and Ford counties, and townships of 
McLean and Vermillion counties. The right of way was pro- 
cured and the grading and bridging done out of the proceeds of 
the bonds issued by the counties and townships in payment of 
their stock. The ties and iron were purchased and laid, the 
station houses, round houses and other necessary buildings 
erected and the road fenced, with the proceeds of the first mort- 
gage bonds of the company. The length of the road is eighty 
miles. At the Indiana line it connects with a road running to 



96 KAILROADS. 

Lafayette, where it connects with the main line of the Toledo, 
Wabash & "Western Railway. The amount of the first and only 
mortgage is $1,300,000. The road is leased perpetually to the 
Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway Company, the latter assum- 
ing to pay the interest on the mortgage debt, to pay all taxes 
assessed against the road and to keep the road in repair. After 
these disbursements, the surplus of the net earnings, if any, are 
to be divided upon the stock of the company. The road was 
substantially completed January 1, 1872, and the Toledo, Wa- 
bash & Western Company commenced running trains at that 
time. This, like all railroads, began with the people without the 
aid of large capital, and this enterprise struggled long and hard 
for success. Its final completion was a matter of just pride and 
satisfaction to those engaged in its management. 



THE BLACK HAWK WAR, 



The hero of the Black Hawk War was Black Hawk, whose 
Indian name was Mucatah Muhicatah. He was an old chief of 
the Sacs, who had united with the Foxes, forming a single na- 
tion. He was born in a Sac village in 1767. His personal 
appearance was not at first sight prepossessing. He was small of 
stature, but he was finel} T formed, and his eyes were bright and 
intelligent. He had a quick sense of propriety, and his manners 
were dignified and graceful. He had a lively sense of honor, 
and was remarkable for his uprightness and fair dealing. He 
was very active and loved the war-path. Mature made him a 
nobleman, and gave him that spirit of chivalry, which has been 
celebrated in poetry and song. He was a kind and affectionate 
father, and Ford's "History of Illinois" tells us that he went 
every year to visit the grave of his daughter at Oquaka. Black 
Hawk was a good deal of a diplomatist, too, he would say the 
right thing at the right time, and he gained the good will of all 
with whom he came in contact. Let it not be supposed that this 
picture of Black Hawk is overdrawn. He was indeed a remark- 
able genius, and had he been born in happier days and a member 
of a civilized race, his talents would have made for him a grander 
name. He gained a remarkable ascendency over the fiery, war- 
like portion of the Sacs and Foxes, and was the leader of that 
portion of them called the British Band. He was very proud 
and sensitive, and his feelings were outraged as he saw the In- 
dians steadily crowded westward before the advancing whites. 
He did what he could to oppose it, and, during the war of 1812, 
he fought against the Americans under the eye of Tecumseh. 
He saw his followers defeated at Tippecanoe under the Prophet, 
7 



98 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

and Tecumseh slain at the battle of the Thames. He was at the 
attack on Fort Madison, at the River Raisin, at the attack on 
Fort Stephenson on the Lower Sandusky. He kept up some sort 
of connection with the British in Canada, and cherished the 
hope of being yet able to stop the westward march of the whites. 

In 1804 some kind of a treaty had been made between the 
whites and the Sacs and Foxes, by which the latter ceded the 
whites all their lands lying east of the Mississippi. What this 
treaty was it is hardly possible to ascertain very definitely. 
Black Hawk complained that it was made without proper author- 
ity by the chiefs of the nation, and that the nation had never 
been consulted in the matter. In making an Indian treaty it 
has never been very easy to learn who were the parties author- 
ized to sign and enforce it. The whites have unfortunately 
shown more anxiety to make a treaty advantageous to them- 
selves and "get the best end of the bargain," than to make it 
with the proper parties in a fair and equitable manner. 

In the spring of 1831, as the country began to be settled, the 
whites commenced to occupy the lands situated in the vicinity 
of Rock Island, acquired by treaty from the Sacs and Foxes. 
Many of the Indians then removed to the western bank of the 
Mississippi River, in accordance with the order of government 
issued to that effect. But the anger of Black Hawk was aroused. 
He collected a force of Indians, crossed over to Rock Island and 
ordered the settlers to leave the country. He unroofed some of 
their houses, and his followers committed other depredations. 
When Governor Reynolds learned of this he reported the matter 
to General Gaines, of the United States army, and General 
Clark, superintendent of Indian Affairs. General Gaines with 
some regular soldiers proceeded to Rock Island, but without 
taking further steps, called upon Governor Reynolds for seven 
hundred mounted volunteers. The Governor issued the call and 
about fifteen hundred volunteers responded. By the tenth of 
June, 1831, they were organized at Beardstown, and within four 
daye had marched to the Mississippi River, where they met Gen- 
eral Gaines about eight miles below the mouth of Rock River. 
The next day they marched to Vandruff's Island at the mouth 
of Rock River, expecting to find the Indians there to decide who 
should be master of the situation. But an Indian is never where 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 99 

he is expected to be. After beating around the island for some 
time they learned that Black Hawk and his band had crossed to 
the western bank of the Mississippi. The volunteers were dis- 
appointed, as some of them were "spoiling for a fight" or pre- 
tended to be. It was then necessary for them to perform some 
signal act of gallantry before going back to their wives and sweet- 
hearts. They could not go home and tell the lovely maidens, who 
were waiting for them, that they had simply done as did a certain 
king of France, who "marched up the hill and then marched 
down again." Opposite Vandrnff's Island stood the village of 
the Sacs and Foxes, lonely and deserted. The volunteers crossed 
over to it, set fire to the w T igwams and reduced the village to 
ashes. This w T anton act of barbarity was no doubt performed for 
the double purpose of Christianizing the Indians and of giving 
a splendid exhibition of the bravery of the volunteers ! Ford's 
History, while speaking of it, says : 

"Thus perished an ancient village, which had once been the 
delightful home of six or seven thousand Indians ; where gener- 
ation after generation had been born, had died and been buried; 
where the old men had taught wisdom to the young ; whence 
the Indian youth had often gone out in parties to hunt or to war 
and returned in triumph to dance around the spoils of the forest, 
or the scalps of their enemies ; and where the dark-eyed Indian 
maidens, by their presence and charms, had made it a scene of 
delightful enchantment to many an admiring warrior." 

The next day the volunteers marched to Rock Island. Gen- 
eral Gaines threatened to cross the Mississippi and continue the 
war. When Black Hawk heard this he made peace and agreed 
never again to cross the Mississippi without permission from the 
" Great Father at Washington." 

During the following year some Indians belonging to the 
Pottawotamies, living near Lake Kushkanong in Wisconsin 
moved across the Mississippi. When they went they gave per- 
mission to Black Hawk and his followers to take possession of 
their old hunting grounds. Such at least was the claim made 
by Black Hawk and the Indians under his command. This offer 
threw the Sacs and Foxes into commotion. Some were anxious 
to go, while some remembered the power of the whites and the 



100 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

agreement never to cross the Mississippi. Keokuk, the leading 
chief of the nation, headed the party of peace, and used all of 
his eloquence to restrain his tribe. But Black Hawk favored 
the measure, and urged it with all his power. He collected a 
band of about seven hundred warriors, composed of Sacs and 
Foxes with a few Pottawotamies and Kickapoos; and these with 
their squaws and pappooses started on their adventurous journey. 
When this was made known to Governor Reynolds he called 
for a thousand mounted volunteers immediately, and the United 
States government also raised troops. Eighteen hundred vol- 
unteers responded to the call of Governor Reynolds, and by the 
twenty-seventh of April, 1832, were on the march. 

Black Hawk with his band had proceeded up the Rock River 
valley very quietly. They had done no harm to the whites, and 
no one was afraid of their committing depredations. When 
they came to Dixon's Ferry the chiefs of the band, who were 
Black Hawk, Wishick and Naapape, and also Old Crane, a chief 
of the Winnebagoes, went to the house of the old pioneer, John 
Dixon, and were by him very hospitably entertained. He de- 
scribes Black Hawk as a very inferior looking man in stature, 
but with a very expressive countenance. He speaks of Wishick 
as a man of commanding disposition, very stern and very per- 
emptory. He says that when the Sacs and Foxes first came they 
filled his house full, and his wife was in great fear. Old Crane, 
a chief of the Winnebagoes, spoke to Wishick, who immedi- 
ately ordered the Indians to puckachee (depart), which they did 
immediately. 

Before the Indians came, Mr. Dixon had been in consulta- 
tion with General Atkinson with reference to them, and was re- 
quested to ascertain their numbers. He estimated their force to 
amount to six hundred w r arriors. Other accounts place their 
number at seven hundred. 

The Sacs and Foxes proceeded up Rock River, about forty 
miles from Dixon's Ferry, to the mouth of the Kishwaukee 
River (called by some Sycamore), where they temporarily fixed 
their camp. The volunteers under the command of General 
Samuel Whiteside had in the mean time been coming up to the 
scene of action. They marched up to the mouth of Rock River 
and there met B General Atkinson, who commanded the regulars. 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 101 

A part of the volunteers started up Rock River, having orders 
to stop at Prophetstown, about fifty miles distant. There they 
awaited the arrival of Q-enera] Atkinson with his regulars, who 
were to bring provisions up the river in boats. But when the 
volunteers came to the Indian village of Prophetstown they 
acted with that folly which is characteristic of men who have 
been but a few days in the field, and who are imperfectly con- 
trolled by their officers. They burned the Indian village and 
proceeded on their march without waiting for the regulars, of 
whom they contracted a jealousy which continued during the 
whole of the campaign. In order to march easily thej' left their 
baggage and a large quantity of provisions at Prophetstown. 
The} r afterwards felt the result of their folly when they had 
lived for three days on coffee and parched corn. The trouble 
with the volunteers was that they had been but a short time in 
the field, and their officers were in many cases men who after- 
wards expected to exert some political influence. The result was 
that the officers were to some extent commanded by the privates, 
and the army was liable to be governed by any whim which 
might overtake it. "When the army arrived at Dixon it found 
there two battalions of mounted volunteers, numbering about 
two hundred and seventy-five men. The men had collected 
from McLean, Tazewell, Peoria and Fulton Counties, and were 
commanded by Majors Still man and Bailey. 

By this time the regulars under General Atkinson were 
near Prophetstown, and were coming up with boats filled with 
provisions. Their steady, careful movements made the volun- 
teers very impatient, and the latter were also exceedingly anxious 
to obtain the laurels to be won. They were only called out for 
thirty days, and they expected to wind up the whole matter in 
that short space of time, very much as our Union army expected 
at a later day to crush the rebellion within three months. The 
men under the command of Major Stillman were particularly 
anxious to "ketch the Indians" before the latter could get 
away. They said the regulars would come crawling along stuff- 
ing themselves with beef, and the Indians would never be 
"ketched." The officers yielded to the impatience and jealousy 
of the men and requested Governor Reynolds to let them go out 
and reconnoiter the country and find the Indians. A certain 



102 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

Captain Eades from Peoria came up and insisted very strongly 
that they should be allowed to go. The other captains all vol- 
unteered, for they wished to be considered very plucky, and the 
question with them was not whether the matter was prudent and 
necessary, but whether they dared to go. From all that can be 
learned, Major Stillman consented to go against his better judg- 
ment. He asked Mr. John Dixon's opinion and the latter told 
him very decidedly that the business of "ketching the Indians* 
would prove very disastrous for a little force of less than three 
hundred men. Major Stillman then said that as all of his offi- 
cers and men were determined to go, he must lead them if it 
cost him his life. Governor Reynolds was very angry at the 
course taken by the volunteers but reluctantly gave his consent.* 
Major Stillman's men provided themselves with some whisky, 
and of course were invincible. They started on the 13th of 
May, and, according to David Simmons, numbered two hundred 
and six men. Nothing was heard of them until midnight of the 
second day. At that time John Dixon was aroused from his 
slumber by a voice saying : 

"Oh, Mr. Dixon, can I lie down here ?" 

" Why, what's the matter ?" 

" Oh, our folks had a big battle!" 

"Are many killed ?" 

" Oh, yes !" 

" How many ?" 

" Oh, I don't know; it was an awful battle; I don't know 
who is killed or who is hurt." 

" Did you get whipped ?" 

" Oh, yes!" 

James Benson of White Oak Grove says that he was 
awakened from his slumber by a volunteer, who said that the 
Indians had crawled on the whites and said " woo, woo," and 
butchered them all in their camp. 

This was the way the volunteers " ketched the Indians. iT 
During the remainder of the night and all the next day Major 
Stillman and his men came straggling into camp. It was at last 
found that only a few of their number had been killed and sev- 

* In his autobiography entitled " My Own Times," Governor Reynolds gener- 
ously assumes the responsibility for the disaster at Stillman's Run, but the movement 
was certainly made against his wishes. 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 103 

eral wounded. The following are facts, as learned from Thomas 
0. Rutledge, James Phillips and David Simmons, who partici- 
pated in the tight. 

At noon during the second day, while they were eating din- 
ner, an alarm was raised by the guard, in front, who discovered, 
moccasin tracks. The men gathered up their coffee pots and 
other utensils and excitedly rode forward a few miles, but found 
no Indians, though the tracks were fresh. Then they came to a 
halt. Their baggage w T agon came on slowly, loaded with am- 
munition and whisky. In order to dispense with the wagon, 
the whisky barrel was broken open and every man took what 
he wanted. They filled their canteens and bottles and coffee 
pots, and men rode up and down the line offering everybody a 
drink. The ammunition was also issued and men filled their 
powder horns and tied up powder in handkerchiefs. Then they 
moved forward, from three to five miles, and crossed Old Man's 
Creek, since called Stillman's Run. It was about thirty-five 
miles from Dixon. At the point where the volunteers crossed 
was a bend, concave towards the north. In that bend they 
stacked their baggage and partly went into camp. The guards, 
who had been out during the day to the right, left, rear and 
front, came in. The left guard brought in some Indian ponies, 
which they had found, and this created quite an excitement. 
Some of the men began to ride the ponies. Just then ten or a 
dozen Indians appeared on a hill a quarter or half a mile distant. 
The officers and men inquired who they were, and some thought 
they were the advanced guard. David Simmons said to Still- 
man : "No, the advanced guard came in some time ago, Gen- 
eral; it's Indians !" The men then commenced saddling their 
horses ; some started immediately, and some went without their 
saddles. Twenty-five or thirty men and officers with Captain 
Covel, came up to where the Indians had been. All of the lat- 
ter had retreated except two, who claimed to be Pottawotamies. 
The men chased the retreating Indians and killed one. The 
two Indians, who refused to run, were brought into camp. They 
each said : " Me good Pottaw r otamie," but pointed over the 
hill and said, " Heap of Sac." Captain Covel, returning, said: 
" It's all nonsense, they're friendly Indians." The two captured 
Indians then proposed to trade for a gun belonging to David 



104 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

Alexander from Pekin. "While the}* were poking their fingers 
into the barrel some of the men who chased the retreating In- 
dians into Black Hawk's camp on the Kishwankee, returned 
and said : " Parade, parade." They declared that the Indians 
were thick over the hill. The men were formed and moved for- 
ward. Before going far an Indian prisoner was brought in from 
the party in the advance and sent to the rear. The men moved 
on and made a halt near a slough. Here the officers went ahead, 
and Thomas 0. Rutledge says some kind of a parley was held 
with the Indians. The latter swung a red flag in defiance. Gen- 
eral Gridley, who was then lieutenant, came back with orders to 
march forward. Captain Eades of Peoria came riding back, 
and said he was not easily fooled, that there were not less than 
a thousand Indians coming. The men were then marched back 
in some confusion across the slough to high ground. There 
they formed, or tried to form, but were in bad order. The In- 
dians then poured out of the timber to the front, right and left, 
and Mr. Simmons said it reminded him of the pigeons in In- 
diana flying over one another and picking up mast. Both par- 
ties commenced firing. But the whites were in such bad order 
that those in the rear were in danger of shooting those in front. 
The Indians came on whooping, j-elling and firing, and the 
horses of the volunteers began to prance about. The Indians 
circled around on both sides, and Mr. Rutledge thinks they came 
clear to the rear. Major Still man ordered his men to mount 
and retreat, and form a line across the creek, and also told them 
to break the line of the Indians on the left. Mr. Rutledge 
says : " Right there was confusion. We did not go to the 
right or the left, but right square for home !" When they ar- 
rived at the creek (Stillman's Run) Captain Covel tried to form 
a line on the north side, but an order was given to cross it and 
form a line on the south side. Here the Indian prisoners began 
to whoop, in answer to their friends, and the guard was ordered 
to shoot them, and it did so immediatel}*. The whites plunged 
through the mud and water of the creek and tried to form a 
line on the south side. The Indians came up close and both 
parties were firing. But the whites kept breaking away to the 
rear. Some were calling " halt and fight." Those who had lost 
their horses said: "For God's sake, don't leave us." Mr. 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 105 

Phillips particularly remembers Captain Adams, who called out 
continually, " Damn it, stop and fight." But in a moment an 
order was given to retreat to Dixon, and it was obeyed imme- 
diately. A few of the Indians followed the volunteers across 
the creek, but the most of them stopped to plunder the bag- 
gage, which had been piled up so convenient for them. The 
whites ran, every man for himself, to Dixon's Ferry. They lost 
but few men in the fight and retreat. Joseph Draper was shot 
when the two lines met in the retreat, but in the dusk of the 
evening he crawled away and lived some days afterwards, and 
when his body was found he had marked his adventures and 
wanderings on his canteen. Andrew Dickey was shot at the 
creek through the thigh, but crawled under the bank and es- 
caped. Mr. Hackelton who was also wounded, hid under the bank. 
Captain Adams had his horse shot from under him when the 
retreat commenced, but he ran back, crossed the creek and went 
three-quarters of a mile towards Dixon's Ferry, when he was 
overtaken by the Indians and killed, but succeeded in killing 
one or two of the Indians who followed him ; Major Perkins 
was overtaken and killed about a mile and a half from the creek. 
He was probably delayed while crossing it. James Doty of 
Peoria was also killed. The loss of the whites, according to 
Ford's History of Illinois, was eleven, but James Phillips says 
it was thirteen. Seven of the Indians were buried, and their 
loss may have amounted to more. 

A great deal of fun was made of Stillman's men by their 
friends who had been wise enough to remain behind. Some of 
the gentlemen who had run so fast w^ere very angry, while some 
took it in good part. Colonel Strode (an old militia colonel) 
created a great deal of amusement by his humorous accounts of 
the fight. He said that the Indians formed in solid columns, 
and that their flanks extended to a long distance on both sides 
of Major Stillman's command. Suddenly the flanks of the In- 
dians began to close in on Major Stillman's men like a pair of 
scissors, and the whites turned and ran for their lives, and Col- 
onel Strode followed suit. He said he was none too quick, for 
as the flanks of the Indians came together they just grazed the tail 
of his horse, but he escaped ! He told a great many humorous 
stories, and one of his accounts is given in Ford's History of 
Illinois, as follows : 



106 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

" Sirs, our detachment was encamped amongst some scatter- 
ing timber on the north side of Old Man's Creek, with the prairie 
from the north gently sloping down to our encampment. It was 
just after twilight, in the glooming of the evening, when we dis- 
covered Black Hawk's army coming down upon us in solid 
column ; they displayed in the form of a crescent upon the brow 
of the prairie, and such accuracy and precision of military 
movements were never witnessed by man ; they were equal to 
the best troops of Wellington in Spain. I have said that the 
Indians came down in solid column, and displayed in the form 
of a crescent; and what was most wonderful, there were large 
squares of cavalry resting upon the points of the curve, which 
squares were supported again by other columns fifteen deep, ex- 
tending back through the woods and over a swamp three-quarters 
of a mile, which again rested upon the main body of Black 
Hawk's army bivouaced upon the banks of the Kishwaukee. It 
was a terrible and a glorious sight to see the tawny warriors as 
they rode along our flanks, attempting to outflank us, with the 
glittering moonbeams glistening from their polished blades and 
burnished spears. It was a sight well calculated to strike con- 
sternation into the stoutest and boldest heart, and accordingly 
our men soon began to break in small squads for tall timber. In 
a little time the rout became general, the Indians were upon our 
flanks, and threatened the destruction of the entire detachment. 
About this time Major Stillman, Colonel Stephenson, Major Per- 
kins, Captain Adams, Mr. Hackelton, and myself, with some 
others, threw ourselves into the rear to rally fugitives and pro- 
tect the retreat. But in a short time all my companions fell, 
bravely fighting hand to hand with the savage enemy, and I 
alone was left upon the field of battle. About this time I dis- 
covered, not far to Jthe left a corps of horsemen which seemed 
to be in tolerable order. I immediately deployed to the left, 
when, leaning down and placing my body in a recumbent pos- 
ture, upon the mane of my horse, so as to bring the heads of 
the horsemen between my eye and the horizon, I discovered by 
the light of the moon that they were gentlemen who did not 
wear hats, by which token I knew they were no friends of mine. 
I therefore made a retrograde movement and recovered my 
former position, where I remained some time meditating what 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 107 

further I could do in the service of my country, when a random 
ball came whistling 1 by my ear and plainly whispered to me, 
'Stranger, you have no further business here!' Upon hearing 
this I followed the example of my companions in arms, and 
broke for tall timber, and the way I ran, was not a little, and 
quit." 

"The Colonel was a lawyer, just returning from the circuit, 
with a slight wardrobe and Chitty's Pleadings packed in his sad- 
dlebags, all of which Avere captured by the Indians. He after- 
wards related with much vexation that Black Hawk had decked 
himself out in his finery, appearing in the wild woods, among 
his savage companions, dressed in one of the Colonel's ruffled 
shirts drawn over his deer-skin leggings, with a volume of Chit- 
ty's Pleadings under each arm." 

A funny story is also told of Colonel Strode. It is said that 
when he attempted to retreat, as the Indians came charging on, 
he mounted his'horse without untying it from the stump to which 
it was fastened. As his horse could not move from the spot, he 
thought, in his excitement, that the stump was an Indian hold- 
ing the bridle, and he said : 

" Don't shoot, Mr. Indian, I am Colonel Strode of the Illinois 
volunteers, I surrender at discretion!" 

While Major Stillman was carrying on his operations, the 
forces at Dixon's Ferry were increasing. The volunteers came 
in rapidly, and the quartermaster was obliged to take John 
Dixon's cattle and hogs to feed them, because by their improvi- 
dence they were left without anything to eat except corn and 
coffee. General Whiteside, who commanded the volunteers, 
after calling a council of war, proceeded to the scene of the late 
fight, and buried the bodies of the eleven whites, who were 
slain. 

In speaking of the fight at Stillman's Run, the follies of the 
volunteers are pointed out without hesitation, because it is nec- 
essary for us to know the truth of the matter. It would, how- 
ever, be wrong to give the impression that they were in any 
respect wanting in courage or good sense, and those who judge 
harshly of them in all probability would not have done any bet- 
ter, perhaps not as well. Volunteers who have been but a short 
time in the field are peculiarly liable to take a panic, although 



108 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

they may be possessed of unusual courage and coolness. This 
was the case at Bull Run, at the opening of the rebellion, yet no 
one doubts the courage of the troops in that battle. My dear 
reader, if you had been there, or if you had been at Stillman's 
Run, you would probably have made as good time as any of them, 
though you may be as brave as the bravest. 

As soon as the Sacs and Foxes were attacked they were a 
changed race of beings. Before that they had been very quiet, 
and had done no one any harm. They had not taken the prop- 
erty of the white settlers, and had behaved themselves much 
better than could have been expected of savages. But after they 
were attacked they raised the war-whoop, and it is probable that 
this is the time to which Black Hawk referred when he said : 
"I took up the hatchet to revenge injuries which could no longer 
be borne." 

After the fight of Stillman's Run the Indians scatteredall over 
the country, and every settler who had not taken refuge in some 
well-protected place was killed and scalped and his house burned 
to the ground. Many of them received timely notice and es- 
caped. Shaubana, a friendly chief of the Pottawotamies, gave 
notice to many settlers, and thus saved many lives. Mr. Dixon 
took occasion to warn as man}^ as possible. The Kellogg and 
Reid families, of Buffalo Grove, were notified by his exertions. 
They hastily packed up what things they could and came to 
Dixon's Ferry. They had only been gone from their homes a few 
hours when the Indians came there and destroyed what things 
could not be carried away. They ripped open the feather beds 
and scattered the feathers in high glee. But there were three 
families living on Indian Creek, about fifteen miles from Ottawa, 
which did not soon enough come under protection. They were 
the Davis, Hall and Pettigrew families. The Indians appeared 
in the day-time and massacred them in cold blood, taking a sav- 
age delight in their infernal deeds. They toldhow.terror-stricken 
were the women and how they screamed and, as they said 
"squeaked like geese," when they were massacred. But there 
were twy young ladies, Rachel and Silvia Hall, who tried 
to conceal themselves by crawling into bed. They were discov- 
ered by two young braves, who determined to have them for 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 109 

wives. They were aged fifteen and seventeen years respectively 
and were carried oft' by the delighted braves. 

After this deed the Indians rapidly retreated with their pris- 
oners. The young ladies were afterwards ransomed for two 
thousand dollars, paid in trinkets, horses and finery of various 
kinds. It is said that the Indians exacted by far the largest ran- 
som for the elder sister, as she was more qniet and gave less 
trouble ; but they let the younger sister go pretty cheap, as she 
was so saucy and impudent that she made her captors much 
difficulty. 

The volunteers for thirty days were mustered out of service 
on the twenty-eighth of May. They had grown tired of the ser- 
vice. They thought they would have a play-day, but the war 
turned out to be a serious business and promised to last for some 
time. They were mustered out of service at Ottawa, and the 
most of them returned to their homes. Nevertheless a regiment 
was raised out of their number, enough enlisting for that pur- 
pose at the urgent solicitation of Governor Reynolds. Another 
call was made by the Governor for two thousand men for sixty 
days, but they did not take the field until the twenty-second of 
June. In the meantime the regiment raised from those recently 
discharged, was put in active service. It was commanded by 
Colonel Jacob Fry, while James D. Henry, who was afterwards 
General Henry, was made Lieutenant Colonel. General Whiteside, 
who had commanded the volunteers for thirty days, enlisted as 
a private. The regiment was divided up for the purpose of pro- 
tecting as much of the country as possible. In the meantime 
there were some lively skirmishes with the Indians. One com- 
pany, commanded by Captain Adam W. Snyder, being fired upon 
by four Indians, near Burr Oak Grove, drove them into a sink- 
hole and killed them. The warfare was of the most merciless 
nature ; no prisoners were taken ; it was simply kill or be killed. 
Shortly after the Indians were killed in the sink-hole, Captain 
Snyder's company was suddenly attacked by a force of seventy 
Indians. The moment was a most trying one, but the men stood 
it bravely. The Indians pressed their attack, until General 
Whiteside, who was a splendid marksman, shot the chief who 
was riding on horseback. This discouraged the Indians, and 
they retired from the contest. 



110 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

But notwithstanding the checks which they received, the In- 
dians displayed the most astonishing activity. They seemed to 
be everywhere, and they fought with the greatest fierceness. 
They threatened Galena, and they attacked or threatened nearly 
every point between Galena and Ottawa. Two settlers were 
killed by them on the east bank of the Fox River, within six 
miles of Ottawa, and another up at Buffalo Grove, in Ogle Coun- 
ty. Such wonderful activity as they displaj^ed has seldom been 
shown by the most daring and war-like of savage foes. Every 
exposed place was attacked. The fort at Apple River was used 
as a rendezvous for the settlers, and protected a village of miners. 
It was defended b}^ twenty-five men. Suddenly three men, who 
started on an express from Galena to Dixon, were fired on near 
the fort and retreated to it. They w^ere followed by one hundred 
and fifty Indians commanded by Black Haw r k in person. The 
miners and settlers collected in the fort, which consisted of a 
stockade of logs, and let their houses go. The Indians imme- 
diately took possession of the houses, smashed up the furniture, 
tore open the feather beds, scattered the feathers to the winds 
and rioted in the work of destruction. Then, using the houses for 
protection, they, for fifteen hours, kept up a keen fire on the 
fort. But, as it became clear that the fort could never be cap- 
tured, they retired. 

The activity and fierceness of the Sacs and Foxes seemed to 
show that they were wrought up to a pitch of frenzy. Mr. St. 
Vrain, the Indian agent, had been on terms of intimate friend- 
ship with one of the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, called Little 
Bear. Indeed he had been adopted by Little Bear as a brother. 
Mr. St. Vrain was sent with a small party of men to Fort Arm- 
strong, and on his way there he met Little Bear with a party of 
Indians. Mr. St. Vrain, not thinking that any harm would be 
done to him by Little Bear, by whom he had been adopted as a 
brother, approached without fear. But he and his party were 
immediately scalped. The very ties of brotherhood counted for 
nothing among the infuriated savages. Every place in the 
country was either attacked or threatened. Galena was at one 
time in some danger, but Colonel Strode, the humorous soldier 
at Stillman's Run, prepared thoroughly for its defense. He de- 



BLACK HAWK WAR. HI 

clared martial law and pressed every man into the ranks at the 
point of the bayonet, and the attack was not made. 

But the volunteers had by this time learned some of the arts 
of Indian warefare, and the} T fought quite as desperately as the 
Sacs and Foxes. Captain James W. Stephenson, of G-alena, with 
a small portion of his company attacked a party of Indians, 
whom he discovered in a thicket on the prairie. He charged 
upon them again and again, and even penetrated the thicket, but 
having half a dozen or more men killed, and being himself se- 
verely wounded,, he was obliged to retreat. 

A party of eleven Indians fired upon some whites near Fort 
Hamilton, up in the lead mines. General Dodge, of Wisconsin 
collected a party of whites and went after them in hot pursuit. 
His little command came up with the Indians on the bank of the 
Pecatonica River, and killed every one of them. Not one was 
left to carry the news to Black Hawk. The loss of the whites 
was one man wounded severely and three mortally. 

But by this time (20th of June) the volunteers for sixty days 
were in the field. They had rendezvoused at Fort Wilburn, 
near LaSalle,and amounted to three thousand two hundred men, 
exclusive of the regular troops. They were divided into three 
brigades, commanded by Alexander Posey, Milton K. Alexander 
and James D. Henry. General Atkinson, of the regular army, 
commanded the entire force of volunteers and regulars. The ball 
was opened by Major John Dement, who commanded a spy bat- 
talion. He was ordered to push ahead while the army should 
follow and make its headquarters at Dixon's Ferry. When he 
came to Dixon's Ferry his men displayed some of that ineffable 
greenness for which the volunteers in those days were distin- 
guished, before they had seen service. One of the volunteers, a 
long-legged, awkward looking gentleman, rode up to Mr. John 
Dixon and asked in a voice rich with concentrated greenness: 

"Where's y' Injins ? If you want y' Injins killed, fetch 'em 
on!" 

He soon had all the fighting his heart could wish, for Major 
Dement crossed Rock River and pushed on to Kellogg's Grove, 
where he was attacked by the Indians under Black Hawk, fresh 
from the Apple River fort. The circumstances were these. 
Major Dement learned that the trail of a large party of Indians 



112 BLACK HAWK WAK. 

was discovered near Kellogg's Grove, and he immediately started 
for it. He took twenty men and with them kept in advance of 
his command. Pretty soon they came upon a few Indians who 
rapidly retreated. This excited the little squad of inexperienced 
volunteers, and they pursued the Indians as the hunter pursues 
the game. But Major Dement was collected and cautious, and 
made every effort to restrain his men. They chased the Indians 
about a mile on the prairie, and when they came near the grove 
the Major's little scpuad, which was slightly reinforced, was at- 
tacked by a large body of Indians under Black Hawk. Dement 
retreated slowly to his camp, while the Indians came yelling 
like fiends. The volunteers took refuge in some log houses 
near by, and were able to successfully repel the attack. The 
battle raged fiercely, the Indians being determined to dislodge 
the whites from their strong position. It seemed as if the In- 
dians could not bear to give the matter up, but they were finally 
forced to do so, as the volunteers were so well protected. The 
loss of the whites were five killed and three wounded, while that 
of the Indians was nine killed and left on the field ; and it is 
supposed many others were killed and carried away. 

While Major Dement was contending with the Indians, Gen- 
eral Atkinson brought up the arm} 7 to Dixon and made his head- 
quarters there. When he learned the result of the fight at Kel- 
logg's Grove, he sent General Alexander to the mouth of Plumb 
River, to guard against the possibility of the Indians crossing 
the Mississippi, for it was determined to capture them and not 
to allow one of them to get away. But if General Atkinson 
could have known the fatiguing marches which he afterwards 
was obliged to make, and the great difficulty of capturing a 
band of the most fierce and active Indians in America, he would 
have been perfectly willing to let them go on any terms. After 
remaining two days in Dixon, General Atkinson started with his 
army northward to the Four Lakes in Wisconsin, having heard 
that Black Hawk was there fortified, and that he had deter- 
mined to risk the whole campaign on a single battle. But when 
General Atkinson arrived there he found that the Indians had 
vanished. 

It would be a tiresome task to relate all of the fatiguing 
marches made in search of the wily Black Hawk. The volun- 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 118 

teers for sixty days had, as usual, enlisted with no expectation 
of hardship. When the campaign opened th< i re were three 
thousand two hundred volunteers in the field and four hundred 
and fifty regulars. But, after eight weeks of campaigning 
which consisted of tiresome marches, to find the ever absent 
Black Hawk, there were left not more than half of the volun- 
teers, although the regulars had not lost one of their number. 
What was the reason of this? It is not pleasant to write it, but 
the truth must be told. A great many volunteers took French 
leave — they went away without saying "good-bye" — they de- 
serted. The volunteers made sometimes short, quick marches, 
and sometimes long, continued travels; at one time they were 
obliged to go fifty miles in one day. Sometimes they had 
plenty to eat and sometimes they were nearly starved. The re- 
sult was that about one-half of their number gradually dropped 
off without permission and returned to " home, sweet home." 

There is very little doubt that while the volunteers were 
hunting for Black Hawk, that wily chieftain was posted with re- 
gard to their movements. It Was a game of "blind man's buff" 
with our army to represent the blind man. 

When General Atkinson found no enemy at the Four Lakes 
he went to Turtle Village, on Rock River, but Black Hawk was 
not there. He then went to Lake Kushkanong, and his army 
was kept continually on the alert by all kinds of false alarms, 
but the Sacs and Foxes were not to be found. He then went to 
Burnt Village, on the White Water River, but the ever vanish- 
ing Black Hawk was not there. At this point the brigade of 
General Posey joined them. This brigade had been separated 
from the army ever since the fight at Kellogg's Grove. The 
army was also reinforced by a battalion of troops under Major 
Dodge of Wisconsin. It was now strong enough to wipe Black 
Hawk's band out of existence, if it could only be found. At 
the Burnt Village it was thought that at last they had the trail 
of Black Hawk, but the army was, after some troublesome in- 
vestigation, found to be on the wrong track. 

General Atkinson then sent General Posey with his brigade 
to Fort Hamilton, in the mining country, to protect the settlers, 
while General Alexander, General Henry and Major Hodge were 
sent to Fort Winnebago to procure supplies. General Atkinson, 



114 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

with the regular troops, fell back to Lake Kushkanong, where 
he built a fort and waited for supplies. 

And now was found by an accident, as it were, the trail of 
Black Hawk's band. The troops, which were sent to Fort Win- 
nebago for supplies, reached that place, eight}- miles distant, in 
three days. Here they learned from some Winnebago chiefs 
that Black Hawk and his band were at Manitou village on Rock 
River. General Alexander, General Henry and Major Dodge 
immediately held a council, and agreed to violate orders and 
march upon the Indians. When this resolution was communi- 
cated to the men they determined not to go, and some of them 
seemed resolved on open mutiny. But all except Alexander's 
brigade yielded to General Henry's vigorous measures. 

Alexander's brigade was sent back to General Atkinson, 
while the troops under General Henry and Major Dodge went 
after the Indians. They threw aside all their heavy baggage. 
Some of them had horses and some had not. Those who were 
obliged to walk made their loads as light as possible. Then 
they started on their race, and it was a lively one. They 
marched to Rock River in three days, but learned that the In- 
dians were also doing their best to make time, and were en- 
camped at Cranberry Lake, farther up the river. The army had 
now a clear trail to follow, and they marched with astonishing 
celerity; it is said that in one day they traveled fifty miles. 
Sometimes the men on foot were almost pressed into a run. As 
they drew nearer to the Indians they saw by unmistakable signs 
that the Sacs and Foxes were also marching with the greatest 
speed. The Indians threw away all articles which impeded 
their flight. Their camp kettles and articles of various kinds 
were strewn along the trail. At noon on the seventh day of 
their march the advance guard of the whites came upon 
two Indians and killed them. Then they occasionally met a 
few Indians who guarded the rear of the band. A little skir- 
mishing would follow for the purpose of gaining time for the 
Indians: but the whites pressed on without giving them time to 
breathe. 

Suddenly, when they came near the heights of the Wiscon- 
sin River, the advance guard of the whites, commanded bj' Ma- 
jor Ewingand Major Dodge was tired upon by the Indians. The 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 115 

advance guard immediately dismounted and formed in line. 
The main body, under General Henry, soon came up, and hav- 
ing formed into line, the whole army charged without delay. 
The Indians fought fiercely, but they were driven back, some 
of them down a hollow to the river bottom and some alone- the 
heights of the Wisconsin, until gradually they came down to 
the river. The grass in the river bottom rose very high and the 
ground w r as swampy. The Indians concealed themselves in the 
grass and, as night was coming on, the contest ceased. The 
next morning it was found that the Indians had crossed the 
river. 

The losses in this contest, according to Ford's History of 
Illinois, were, for the whites one man killed and eight wounded 
while the Indians lost sixty-eight dead on the field and probablv 
many w r ounded who escaped. The same authority says twenty- 
five Indians wounded in this battle died on their way to the 
Mississippi River. Such extraordinary figures should be re- 
ceived with some caution. The explanation given in Ford's 
History is that the Indians were taught to fire high, expecting 
to shoot at men on horseback. 

But, be this as it may, the whole affair reflected great credit 
on the volunteers. They had made a most extraordinary forced 
march, and had shown that, notwithstanding their freaks and 
their shortcomings at the opening of the campaign, they could 
when it became necessary, march longer and farther, and fight 
as hard as the soldiers of the regular army. 

Some controversy has been occasioned by the various ad- 
mirers of General Henry of Illinois, and Major Dodge of Wis- 
consin as to which of these officers deserved the greatest credit 
for the victory at Wisconsin Heights. This controversy has oc- 
casioned an unpleasant feeling which lasts to the present time. 
As nearly as can be ascertained they were both men of remark- 
able merit. They were both men of the very best judgment, 
and of great executive ability. From all that can be learned, 
General Henry must receive the credit of going on the expedi- 
tion, for had it not been for his determination the revolt of the 
volunteers w r ould have been successful and they would never 
have started on their race. They were both men of cool judg- 
ment and displayed great ability on the field of battle ; but as 



116 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

to their merit, it is not in the power of the author to decide be- 
tween them. 

After the fight at Wisconsin Heights General Henry's army 
was without provisions, and he had eight wounded men to take 
care of. Under these circumstances he fell back to Blue Mounds 
where he met General Atkinson with the regulars and with the 
brigades commanded by Alexander and Posey. After two days 
of preparation the army started on its march for the Indians. 
The latter had started for the Mississippi River, which they were 
anxious to cross in order to protect themselves from the perse- 
vering attacks of the whites. The Indians were now in a starving 
condition. They had with them their squaws and pappooses- 
they had for some time been traveling through a wild country 
where they could obtain very little to eat. They were, therefore, 
unable to march very fast, and by the time they had reached the 
Mississippi River the whites were close after them. The whites 
reached the Mississippi on the fourth day of their march from 
the Blue Mounds. The soldiers had been excited by seeing 
along the trail the various articles abandoned by the Indians in 
order that the latter might accelerate their flight. Many of 
their wounded in the last battle had died along the route. All 
of these things encouraged the men and they hastened on to the 
closing battle of the campaign. The Indians had reached the 
Mississippi River about forty miles above the present city of 
Prairie du Chien and some two or three miles below the mouth 
of the Bad Axe River. As soon as they reached the river they 
began to cross, some swimming and some crossing in canoes. 

On the day of their arrival a steamboat came up from Prairie 
du Chien, commanded by a certain Captain Throckmorton. 
When the Indians saw the steamboat, they raised a white flag. 
But Captain Throckmorton said he thought this was an exhibi- 
tion of their treachery, and hallooed to them to "send a boat 
aboard," evidently expecting that the Sacs and Foxes understood 
English and were versed in the slang of steamboat captains. As 
the Indians did nothing but display their white flag the captain 
opened on them with canister shot and musketry, and Ford's 
History says that twenty-three Indians were killed by this 
"fight." But how the number killed in this affair was ever as- 
certained, does not appear. Captain Throckmorton, while 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 117 

boasting of the "fight," said : "If you ever saw straight blankets, 
you could have seen them there." 

The next day the army of General Atkinson came on. It was 
met some three or four miles from the Indian camp by a party 
of about twenty Indians commanded by Black Hawk. Black 
Hawk's design was to make a little stand with this small band 
and retreat in a different direction from the Indian camp and 
thus mislead the whites and give the Indians time to cross the 
river. But the little stratagem was not successful. The Indian 
trail was a little too clear, and the whites followed it up and 
charged upou the half-starved remnant of Indians who had not 
yet crossed the Mississippi. Of course their charge was success- 
ful for the Indians could not hope to seriously oppose them, and 
the little half-starved band, which was anxious to surrender, was 
mercilessly driven into the river with their squaws and pap- 
pooses. Some of them succeeded in swimming across, some 
were drowned and some were shot in the water. 

There was a strange little incident connected with this fight. 
It is given here on the authority of the old pioneer, John Dixon, 
who was present : 

Not far from where the contest was raging was a little willow 
island, separated from the shore by a few rods of water. A 
company of regulars, commanded by Captain Reilly, was or- 
dered to cross over and occupy the island. Ford's History says 
they were driven back by the severe fire of the Indians. The 
circumstances were precisely these : The company of regulars 
charged into the water, when one of their number was shot 
down. They turned back, leaving the poor fellow floundering. 
Two soldiers then sprang into the water to bring him out, and 
one of them was shot through the head and killed instantly. 
Others then jumped into the water for the purpose of bringing 
both men out, when still a third was shot down. The soldiers 
then kept out of the water altogether. In the meantime they 
caught sight of a colored object on the island and fired at it 
volley after volley. The next day a small party, among whom 
was Mr. John Dixon, crossed over to the island to see how large 
a force of Indians had been there. They found that the island 
had only been occupied by one Indian, with his squaw and little 
pappoose. The colored object which drew the fire of the regu- 



118 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

lars was a blanket hung up for that purpose; it was shot into 
shreds ! The Indian had escaped ; the squaw was dead, being 
shot through the breast; the little pappoose was alive, but his 
arm had been broken by the shot which killed his mother. The 
little fellow was tenderly cared for at the hospital, but he died 
shortly afterwards. The Indian who escaped from the island 
swam the Mississippi on a little log. He was tracked up by a 
party of Winnebago Indians and soldiers, who found where he 
landed with his log. They followed his trail for some distance 
when one of the Indians saw him in a tree-top. They fired a 
volley at him, and the poor fellow came tumbling down — dead. 

The old jealousy between the admirers of General Henry and 
those of Major Dodge has made it difficult to learn the truth 
with regard to the battle of Bad Axe. Ford's "History of Illinois" 
says that the regulars and volunteers commanded by Major Dodge 
were led astray by the little party of Indians which met the army 
three or four miles from the scene of the fight ; and it says that 
General Henry, who was jealously placed in the rear with his 
brigade, came up, and seeing the mistake of those who were in 
the lead, followed the main trail of the Indians and charged 
them into the Mississippi. It says further that Henry's brigade 
did the most of the fighting, and that General Henry was the 
hero of the battle. 

From all that can be learned this does not appear to be en- 
tirely correct. The regulars were commanded by Colonel 
Zachary Taylor, and the "Wisconsin volunteers by Major Dodge. 
These officers, with General Atkinson, w 7 ho commanded the en- 
tire army, were in the advance, and possibly might have been 
drawn a little out of the way by the stratagem of Black Hawk ; 
but it probably did not interfere very seriously with their move- 
ments. The point is not one of importance, as very little honor 
can be claimed for driving a small band of starved savages into 
the river. 

While the Black Hawk war was in progress a great many 
inducements were held out by the Sacs and Foxes to the Rock 
River Winnebagoes to join in the war, and Ford's History tells 
us that the Winnebagoes were very treacherous and inclined to 
favor Black Hawk. There is no doubt that the Winnebagoes 
were very much opposed to the war. Their Indian corn was 



BLACK HAWK WAlt. 119 

destroyed, and it annoyed aud harrassed them very seriously. 
The Winnebagoes were much opposed to the coming of the Sacs 
and Foxes, and gave information concerning them to the whites; 
but when the Sacs and Foxes determined to get away and go to 
the west of the Mississippi River, the Winnebagoes were will- 
ing to assist them a little. Some of the Winnebagoes were no 
doubt strongly tempted to join in the war against the whites, as 
they feared that some evil might be intended for them. After 
the war Decori, a Winnebago chief, said to General Street : "My 
father, many little birds have been flying about our ears of late, 
and we thought they whispered to us that evil was intended for 
us, but now we hope they will let our ears alone." 

On account of the neutrality of the Rock River Winnebagoes 
and because they had not been able to raise any corn, the gov- 
ernment ordered three thousand rations of flour to be issued to 
them during the following winter. This was done by John 
Dixon with great care and fidelity. 

Our readers would doubtless be glad to know the fate of 
Black Hawk. When Black Hawk found that his stratagem to, 
mislead the whites at the battle of the Bad Axe was unsuccess- 
ful, he and his little band of twenty men, among whom were his 
son and the chiefs Wishick, Naapape and the Prophet, started 
northward, and went near the head waters of the Wisconsin 
River in the Chippewa country. A band of Indians, composed 
of Sioux and Winnebagoes started after them, with the promise 
that if Black Hawk and the other chiefs were captured no harm 
should be done to them. They captured Black Hawk and 
brought him back with his son and the chiefs Wishick, Naapape 
and the Prophet, and delivered them up to General Street at 
Prairie du Chien. Black Hawk and the chiefs surrendered to 
a young Winnebago Indian, called Cheater, and, when they were 
given over to General Street, Cheater was allowed to make a 
little speech. Among other things he said to General Street : 
"My father, near the Dalles, on the Wisconsin River, I took 
Black Hawk. No one did it but me. I say this in the ears of 
all present ; they know it to be true. My father, I am no chief, 
but what I have done is for the benefit of my nation ; and I now 
hope for the good that has been promised us. My father, that 
one Wabokishick (the Prophet) is my kinsman. If he is hurt, I 



120 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

do not wish to see it. The soldiers sometimes stick the ends of 
their guns into the back of the Indian prisoners when they are 
going about in the hands of the guard. I hope this will not be 
done to these men." 

The good sense and fine feeling shown by this young savage 
is unusual, even among white men. 

The volunteers were mustered out of service at Dixon, and 
they were perfectly willing to go home. They had seen many 
fatiguing marches and much severe fighting. When they entered 
the army they were as verdant and ignorant of their duties as 
can well be imagined. But they learned wisdom by experience, 
and when they were mustered out of service they had received 
a practical education in the realities of life, which assisted 
many of them afterwards to rise to positions of trust and re- 
sponsibility. 

Peace was concluded with the Sacs and Foxes at Jefferson 
Barracks, below Rock Island. Here were collected all the 
chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, both those who had been en- 
gaged in w r ar and those who had been at peace. A treaty was 
made by which the United States acquired not only all the lands 
east of the Mississippi River, but also a large slice of Iowa Ter- 
ritory from the Des Moines to the Turkey River. The four 
captured chiefs, with Black Hawk's son, were held by the Uni- 
ted States as hostages for the faithful execution of this treaty. 
At this treaty there were present General Scott, who had come 
from Washington with the intention of taking command of the 
army and conducting the campaign against the Indians. But his 
troops were attacked on the route with the Asiatic cholera, and 
he did not arrive until the fight at Bad Axe ended the contest. 

Black Hawk and his son were kept nearly a year in captivity, 
but on the fourth of June, 1833, they were ordered to be re- 
leased. It has been the custom of the government to take every 
prominent savage it can catch, around through the country and 
show the uncivilized barbarian what a big people the Americans 
have become. This is done for the purpose of showing the poor 
fellow how hopeless it is to contend against us, so that when he 
goes back to his kindred barbarians he will make them keep the 
peace, and will tell them that the "long knives" (white men) 
are more numerous than the leaves of the forest, the peb- 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 121 

bles by the riverside, or the stars in the sky. Acting on this 
theory the government invested a little money in the traveling 
expenses of Black Hawk. It sent him and his son around to 
the large cities, to New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and 
others. Great crowds turned out to see the hero of the Black 
Hawk war. They shook his hand and made a great ado over 
him, as Americans always do when they catch a poor savage. 
The ladies all admired Black Hawk, junior; they said he was 
"perfectly splendid," and one of them actually kissed the little 
barbarian before crowds of people. If he had only carried a 
cane and parted his hair in the middle he would have driven the 
whole of them crazy. 

Black Hawk returned to his people, as he greatly desired, 
and lived with them in peace for some years after the stormy 
times of his campaign in Illinois. He died on the third of Oc- 
tober, 1840, and his grave was made on the bank of the Missis- 
sippi. 

It has been necessary while writing this account of the Black 
Hawk war to criticise some of the statements made in relation 
to it in Ford's "History of Illinois." This history is a valuable 
o'ne ; it contains a great deal of information set forth in the 
clearest manner. Judge Ford seemed to take pleasure in setting 
forth the facts as they were ; and he had a love of poetic justice 
and delighted in bringing the truths out of hidden corners. But 
his very love of justice sometimes made him a little unjust, and 
caused him to exaggerate those faults, which were plain to him. 
His "History of Illinois" is invaluable and may be pronounced 
one of the greatest works of the age. 

A great many men served in the Black Hawk war who af- 
terwards became great generals or great statesmen. 

General Harney, who was a distinguished officer in the Mex- 
ican war, was captain of a company of regulars during the Black 
Hawk campaign. 

Colonel Edward Baker was a private in the Black Hawk 
war. lie was afterwards a member of Congress from the north- 
ern district of Illinois, and still later was a United States Senator 
from Oregon. At the breaking out of the late rebellion he was 
very decidedly in favor of coercive measures, and entered the 
army as a colonel. He was killed at the battle of Ball's Bluff, 
one of the first of the campaign. 



122 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

John T. Stuart was a private in the volunteer service during 
the Black Hawk war. He was afterwards for many years a 
member of Congress from Illinois. It was in his law office that 
Abraham Lincoln prepared himself to become a member of the 
bar. For many years Mr. Stuart was, perhaps, the most influ- 
ential man in the State. 

General Albert Sidney Johnson was a lieutenant in the reg- 
ular army during the Black Hawk war. I have not been able to 
find out anything relating to his ability during the hardships of 
this Indian campaign. He was an aid to General Atkinsou. At 
the outbreak of the late rebellion he hesitated for some time as 
to the course he should take, and at last decided to go with the 
South. He commanded the rebel army at the battle of Shiloh, 
and it is a matter of regret that the ability he there displayed 
was not employed in a nobler cause. He was killed on the field 
of Shiloh, and his death was a severe blow to the rebel cause. 
He was a man of fine appearance and splendid talents. 

General Zachary Taylor was a Colonel at the beginning of 
the Black Hawk war, and was second in command. He was the 
leading spirit, and the campaign was conducted according to 
his plans. He was breveted a Brigadier during the war against 
the Seminoles in Florida, and was made a Major General for his 
services at the outbreak of the Mexican war. The subsequent 
career of General Taylor is so well known that it is impossible 
to add anything to it here. The reputation he acquired in the 
Mexican war made him President of the United States. 

General Robert Anderson w r as a young lieutenant in the reg- 
ular service during the Black Hawk war. He was a slender, 
pale looking young man, and his health seemed very poor. He 
was a man who thought a great deal of performing his duty. He 
was very conscientious, and wished to attend to every duty faith- 
fully and religiously. His defence of Fort Sumpter, at the 
opening of the rebellion, gave him a national reputation, but the 
anxiety to which he was subjected so affected his health that he 
was unable to perform any service afterwards. He said himself 
that "for several days and nights he had no sleep during those 
terrible scenes at the outbreak of the rebellion, and that since 
then he has been unable to bear any mental anxiety." 

Jefferson Davis was a young lieutenant in the regular army. 



BLACK HAWK WAR. 128 

He was a Southerner, and did not like the Yankees, but he had 
the Yankee trait of inquisitiveness. His curiosity was particu- 
larly aroused concerning the Indians, their habits, peculiarities, 
and modes of life, and he was continually asking questions 
about them. His subsequent life is well known. He was Col- 
onel of a Mississippi regiment during the Mexican war. After 
the close of that war he made some uncomplimentary remarks 
concerning the Illinois troops. This aroused the anger of Col- 
onel Bissell, of Illinois, who sent Davis a challenge. The matter 
was explained away in some shape, and Mr. Davis apologized so 
that the duel never was fought. Mr. Davis was afterwards Uni- 
ted States Senator from Mississippi, and still later President of 
the Southern Confederacy. 

Abraham Lincoln was a private in the volunteer service dur- 
ing the Black Hawk war, under the call for thirty days. But 
when the call for sixty days was made he had become so popular 
by his humorous and pointed stories that he was elected captain 
of a company. Mr. John Dixon says that Lincoln was the 
pleasantest man he ever knew. In the evening Lincoln would 
sit by the camp tire and tell stories until the lights were ordered 
out. His stories nearly always illustrated some truth or pointed 
some moral. He was decidedly the most popular man in the 
army, although he was certainly the most awkward looking. 
When he sat around the camp fire with his long arms and legs 
twisted up, he appeared to be the worst looking and best natured 
backwoodsman in the volunteer service. 

General Scott had very little to do with the Black Hawk war. 
He was sent with reinforcements of regular troops to the West, 
by way of Chicago, but the Asiatic cholera carried off so many 
of them that he was delayed in getting to the seat of war. 
General Scott was a very precise and dignified man, and his 
dignity and precision gained for him the title of "Fuss and 
Feathers." He thought a great deal of his friends, but was cold 
and formal to strangers. He loved a good joke almost as well 
as Mr. Lincoln, but his jokes were of a different kind. Mr. 
John Dixon, who had charge of the cattle belonging to the 
army, was introduced to General Scott as the "Major of the 
Steer Battalion." General Scott asked very promptly, whether 
Major Dixon had any report to make. Mr. Dixon replied with 



124 BLACK HAWK WAR. 

equal promptness, that one of his command had deserted, eight 
had been killed, and sixteen were on parade, and he pointed to 
the steers straying around the camp. The General replied : 

"Major Dixon, you have deserved well of your country ; you 
have suffered more than any other officer in my command." 

When Mr. Dixon saw General Scott in Washington, the lat- 
ter, recognizing his friend instantly after eight years of separation, 
greeted him warmly as "Major Dixon." It is not necessary to 
say anything here of the life of General Scott, as it is written in 
the history of his country. 



OLD SETTLERS OF M'LEAN COUNTY 



ALLIN TOWNSHIP. 

Presley Thornton Brooks. 

Presley T. Brooks was born November 9, 1821, in Hart 
Comity, Kentucky. His father's name was Miles Brooks and 
his mother's name before her marriage was Lucy Pulliam. Both 
were born in Virginia and were of Scotch or Irish descent. 
Miles Brooks volunteered as a soldier in the war of 1812 and 
started from home on a campaign, but the war closed and the 
troops were discharged. 

In the 3'ear 1828 Mr. Brooks, sr., sold his property in K< n- 
tucky for the purpose of going to Illinois or Missouri. He 
started late in the fall of 1828, but stopped in Indiana until 
September, 1829, when he came to Illinois. During the winter 
of 1829 and '30 he stayed at Clearry's Grove in what was then 
Sangamon County, but is now contained in the county of Me- 
nard. During that winter he selected and entered land at a 
grove which has ever since been called Brooks' Grove, in the 
present county of McLean. In February, 1830, Mr. Brooks 
moved from Sangamon County to Hittle's Grove in Tazewell 
County, and on the fourteenth day of March of that year he 
moved into a very rough log cabin in Brooks' Grove. The 
Brooks family w T as the first to settle in the present Allin town- 
ship. This w r as before the organization of the county of McLean. 
The Indians, wolves and deer seemed to have things all their own 
way and were very numerous. The Indians were exceedingly 
kind and friendly and always wanted to trade some of their 
pappooses for white children. 

Mr. Brooks relates nothing remarkable concerning the winter 



120 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of the deep snow, beyond what is stated in other places in this 
volume. The Brooks family was snowbound for six weeks and, 
during that time, saw no living persons outside of their own 
family circle. 

In 1832, when the Black Hawk war occurred, the settlers 
were panic-stricken, and Mr. Brooks says : " When old Black 
Hawk was captured, there was rejoicing, you better believe." 

Mr. Brooks describes the sudden freeze of December, 1836, 
and sa} 7 s it came so suddenly that fowls were frozen into the 
slush of snow and water, which covered the ground. The west 
wind came cold after a thaw " as quick as thought," and the 
water and slush became a sheet of ice. 

Mr. Brooks had no opportunity to attend school until about 
fifteen years of age. During the winter of 1836 and '37 he 
boarded about six miles from home and attended school for 
about six weeks. During the next summer he went to school 
for three months and his education was finished. Money was 
valuable in the early days. Mr. Brooks went to Chicago in 
1846, and one dollar paid all of his expenses. But as he camped 
out during the trip this does not appear so wonderful. In the 
fall of 1847 Mr. Brooks made a visit to his native hills in Ken- 
tucky and returned with his sister's family to Illinois. 

The people of Allin township seem to take pleasure in em- 
ploying the services of Mr. Brooks in the various township 
offices. He has been constable, justice of the peace and super- 
visor, and has been elected to these offices without opposition 
and in some cases against his will. At one time he refused to 
qualify as a justice of the peace, when his townsmen held a 
special meeting and chose him once more, and he consented to 
act. He has been school treasurer, assessor and collector, and 
if a new office could be invented in Allin township Mr. Brooks 
would, in all probability, be called to fill it. 

On the twenty-ninth of December, 1842, Mr. Brooks married 
Miss Eliza Silvey Larison, and in April following began keeping 
house at Brooks' Grove. There Mr. Brooks had built a frame 
house, one of the first in the township. In November, 1870, 
the Brooks family moved to Stanford where they have resided 
ever since. His son-in-law, William J. Haines, lives on the old 
farm. Mr. Brooks has had ten children, of whom eight are 



m'lean county. 127 

living. They are : Malinda Catherine, wife of William Haines ; 
Miles Brooks, one of the partners of the firm of Brooks & Son ; 
Mary, wife of George W. Kaufmann, who resides half a mile 
northwest of Stanford ; Abel Brooks is a teacher, and lives at 
home; Rachel B., Lucy Ann B., Millie Frances B., and Eliza 
Ellen B., the pet, live at home. 

As to personal appearance, Mr. Brooks is five feet, nine 
inches, in height, well set, wears glasses when he reads and 
writes. His hair is turning gray, but he has plenty of it ; he has 
a short aquiline nose and blue eyes. He has been very successful 
in life, which is due in a great measure to his wife. 

Greenberry Larison. 

Greenberry Larison was born January 21, 1810, in Bloom 
township, Morgan County, Ohio, on the banks of the Mus- 
kingum River. The ancestors of his father, Abel Larison, came 
from Holland, and were among the earliest settlers in New York. 
His mother's ancestors settled in Maryland at an early day, but 
Mr. Larison does not remember from what country they origi- 
nally came. The Larison family is very large. There is now 
in New York a large property, worth perhaps eight millions of 
dollars which it is thought, belongs to the Larison family ; but 
matters are so mixed that it is doubtful whether they will receive 
any benefit from it. It consists of some real estate which was 
leased for ninety-nine years. The term of the lease expired five 
or six years ago, but the difficulty now is to find all the heirs 
and to prove their right. Henry Ward Beecher's church stands 
upon one of the lots comprised in the real estate claimed by the 
Larison family. 

There were ten children in the Larison family, five boys and 
five girls; Greenberry was the oldest boy. The little education 
he received was obtained in a log school house, where he at- 
tended about three months in the year up to the age of seven- 
teen or eighteen. He was a pretty bright scholar, as good as 
there was in the settlement. He learned reading, writing, spell- 
ing and geography, and was taught to cipher up to the rule of 
three ; but grammar was badly neglected. 

When Mr. Larison was seventeen years of age he killed his 
first deer. The circumstances were these. There was a pretty 



128 OLD SETTLERS OF 

maid at his father's house, and though Greenhorn- was then 
young he wished to do something manly and chivalrous. He 
took his father's gun and went hunting, and when about a mile 
and a half from home he killed a deer, a fine buck. The happy 
youth cut off the head of the deer, put a stick through its neck 
and dragged it home in triumph, and succeeded in getting there 
before the pretty maid had left. The name of the charming 
maiden was Araline Whitehead, but a few years afterwards it 
was changed to Mrs. Larison. 

When Mr. Larison was sixteen years of age he had shown 
himself very bold and venturesome on the water, and had found 
some valuable articles and parts of cargoes, which had been 
lost from fiatboats which had been wrecked on the river. He 
hunted among the drifts and became so skillful that at the age 
of sixteen he " followed the river." This is a rough life, and 
the boatsmen are the hardest of characters. On the Muskingum 
River merchandise was floated on fiatboats. These fiatboats 
were sixty or seventy feet in length and eighteen or twenty feet 
wide, and were loaded with merchandise until they sank two or 
three feet in the water. It can very readily be seen that they 
were unwieldy, and in order to move them a hundred feet across 
the current the boatmen were obliged to let them float a half 
mile or more. Unless the boatmen were skillful they could not 
stop or hitch up their flatboat along the shore. A rope thrown 
from the boat around a tree would soon tighten up and snap in 
two. In order to manage their craft the boatmen were obliged 
to know the river and understand all the currents and shoals and 
eddies. If they wished to stop their boat they tried to run it 
into still water, or, better than this, into an eddy, and gradually 
bring the unwieldy craft ashore. Sometimes the boat was car- 
ried by the current on rocks, or crowded into shore on some log 
and a hole torn in the side or bottom. When such a misfortune 
happened the boat was sure to sink, and the merchandise was 
of course pretty widely distributed by the water. Some of it 
would be carried down stream or sunk in an edd}', or caught in 
a drift. It was in hunting for articles of merchandise lost from 
sunken fiatboats that Mr. Larison learned the river and acquired 
skill in the management of water crafts. He followed the river 
for some years, whenever the Muskingum was not fro/en too 



m'lean county. 129 

hard for flatboats to run, and lie learned all the currents and 
eddies. 

But he was not destined to be a flatboatman all his life. At 
the age of twenty he married Araline Whitehead, the handsome 
young lady who had captivated his affections a few years before. 
This interesting event took place on the first of April, 1830. 
In the fall of that year Mr. Abel Larison came West with all of 
the family except Greenberry, and settled at Kickapoo, near 
what is now called the village of Waynesville. It was not until 
April, 1831, that Greenberry Larison came to Illinois. He came 
by water and landed at Pekin. He had, in coming up the river, 
been carried past this place up to Fort Clark (Peoria), but came 
back to Pekin, and from there across to Kickapoo, where his 
father lived. His father had bought three claims, those of Wil- 
liam and James Murphy and Josiah Harp. The latter claim 
was given up to Greenberry Larison on his arrival. At that 
time he had a five franc piece in his pocket, a bed, and cooking 
utensils enough for his young wife to cook their scanty meal. 
He settled on the farm without a horse, cow, pig, sheep or goat. 
There was on the place a curiosity in the shape of a wooden 
grindstone. It had been made probably by Josiah Harp, from 
whom the claim had been bought. When made it was of green 
wood, and had sand and fine gravel pounded into it. When it 
had seasoned, the sand and gravel were held fast, and though it 
did not sharpen an axe very well or put on a fine edge it would 
give it a lively scratchi ng. The grindstone was a very important 
article always. Mr. Larison was obliged to go sixteen miles from 
his place to 'Squire Gates', in Blooming Grove, on the farm now 
known as the Kitchel larm, to get his axes sharpened. 

Mr. Larison worked hopefully though he expected and rc- 
ceived many set-backs. In the fall of the year in which he came 
West he had become wealthy enough to own a fine litter of six 
pigs, but, during the second night after this sudden wealth had 
been thrust upon him, the prairie wolves came up within thirty 
feet of his house and captured the youthful porkers and they 
were never heard of more. " Riches take to themselves wings 
and fly away." But Mr. Larison did not despair; during the 
fall he bought a cow on credit agreeing to pay for her by the 
following Christmas. He made the money to pay for her by 
9 



130 OLD SETTLERS OF 

cutting cord-wood at twenty-five cents a cord from the logs lying 
where Mr. Scott now lives. He also made rails for Mr. William 
Murphy at thirty-three cents per hundred and boarded himself 
and walked three miles to work. 

He had in the early days some slight opportunity for seeing 
and understanding the Indians. In the fall of 1831 some In- 
dians came to William Murphy and offered him a little Indian 
girl five years of age for four bushels of ground wheat, but he 
declined the offer. When Mr. Larison heard of this he was 
astonished and anxious to get the child and willing to give the 
wheat. He asked Murphy why he refused the bargain, and the 
latter, having had some experience and knowledge of the In- 
dians, replied that they would soon return and steal the little 
girl away. 

The season of 1831 was cool and short and few of the farm- 
ers raised good corn. The winter previous was the winter of 
the deep snow, and the climate was so chilled that the effect was 
felt during the whole season of 1831. There was a frost every 
month in the year and the corn could not ripen. It was so 
worthless that seed corn could not be gathered to plant during 
the following season. In the spring of 1832 nearly all the seed 
corn was brought from Ohio and Kentucky and sold for two and 
a half dollars per bushel and sometimes for more. John Duity 
of Randolph Grove brought on a lot of small yellow corn that 
matured early and this is yet called the Duffy corn. 

Mr. Larison was a great hunter. Although the game was 
made comparatively scarce by the winter of the deep snow, yet 
the skillful hunter could find it. The big game was deer and 
turkey and it was well worthy of the hunter's exertions. Mr. 
Larison says that he has killed " a power of deer and turkey." 

Mr. Larison worked hard for two years on his farm at Kicka- 
poo and then removed to Bloomington and bought out a drink- 
ing saloon. In those days saloons were patronized by nearly 
every one and the saloon-keeper was one of the most honored 
members of society. It is said that Abraham Lincoln once sold 
liquor at retail when he first came to Illinois. Some years after- 
wards when Lincoln took the stump against Judge Douglas, the 
latter alluded to Lincoln's calling in early western times ; but 
Lincoln retorted that while he had officiated in one capacity on 



m'lean county. 131 

one side of the bar, Judge Douglas had officiated in the other 
capacity on the other side ! 

In 1835 Mr. Larison ran for constable at the solicitation of 
his old friend, General Gridley, and was fortunate enough to be 
elected. He served in that capacity for five years, and in 1840 
was elected sheriff of McLean County for two years. He was 
the third sheriff of the county, but he was the first one who took 
a prisoner to the penitentiary. The prisoner, whose name was 
Webb, had been arrested by Larison for passing counterfeit 
money. He was one of that numerous band of counterfeiters 
and burglars that infected the western country, and had just ar- 
rived from the Rock River Valley. As soon as the prisoner was 
remanded to jail a certain individual of Bloomington began to 
plot to release him, for the band of thieves had agents in every 
town. But Mr. Larison "got wind" of this little arrangement 
and carefully guarded the jail, and had the pleasure of seeing 
Webb tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for five 
years. Mr. Larison carried the counterfeiter to Alton, and has 
every reason to suppose that for five years he did the State sub- 
stantial service. 

Occasionally the early settlers enjoyed themselves by dancing 
and the pleasures of society. At these pleasant gatherings Mr. 
Larison was usually the fiddler, and he did what he could to 
make things lively. Judge Davis was a great dancer in those 
days, and could step around very lively, but he was not quite so 
heavy as at the present time. About five years ago some peo- 
ple in Bloomington got up a dance in the style of the early days. 
Mr. Larison acted in the capacity of fiddler, and the company 
had a grand time. 

In 1850 Mr. Larison was anxious for a chance to hunt, and 
went to California with a company of sixty persons. They had 
a great time of it, and Mr. Larison did not return for two years. 
While crossing the plains they came upon the great game of the 
West, buffaloes. Some of the party mounted their horses and 
started for them. The buffaloes, of course, made as good time 
as they could to get out of the way. Mr. Larison did not have 
his own horse near, so he borrowed one with little ceremony, 
and started. He soon came across a buffalo which had taken 
refuge in a hollow, and gave chase. He rode up by the side of 



132 OLD SETTLER9 OF 

it and was about to shoot when the ferocious beast turned upon 
him and, to make matters more troublesome, his horse refused 
to get out of the way or move until the buffalo was within 
about fifteen feet of him. But when the horse saw the danger 
he sprang out of the way. Shortly afterwards Mr. Larison dis- 
mounted and shot the buffalo, but did not kill it. John W. 
Dawson, after snapping a few caps at the animal, held Larison'^ 
horse while the latter tried again and succeeded in bringing the 
buffalo down. They had a great many interesting adventures. 
When they came to Sweetwater they heard of a place a few 
miles above them called Devil's Gate. It seems to be a ledge of 
rock cut through by the washing of water. It is about two hun- 
dred feet high and not far from perpendicular. Near the top of 
this ledge Fremont made his sign, and of course all persons who 
pass that way must do the same and gain for themselves a cheap 
notoriety. The most of the company went to the top by a wide 
circuit, but William Hodge (a son of W. H. Hodge) climbed up 
this ledge of rock two hundred feet, almost perpendicularly, and 
when he came within twenty or thirty feet of the top he found 
it so steep that it seemed impossible to go further, and equally 
impossible to retreat. In order to climb the remaining short 
distance the young man pulled off his boots and threw them up 
to the top. One of them landed safely, while the other tumbled 
down two hundred feet to the bottom. But the young man suc- 
ceeded in getting to the top. Now it so happened that a party 
from the company went to visit the Devil's Gate and while there 
were suddenly astonished by a boot which dropped down among 
them. They carried it to camp and found young Hodge coming 
in barefoot. He had dropped one boot and thinking the other 
of no use threw it away. Mr. Larison had a little experience of 
this kind. lie tried to climb a steep ledge, and when part way 
up, at a giddy height, he found it impossible to retreat, and a 
little green bush growing from a crevice in the rock was all that 
made it possible for him to proceed. 

Mr. Larison was a hundred and four days on the plains. On 
his route he found many things new and strange. He saw In- 
dians, of course, but during his trip he saw a new variety, the 
Digger Indians. They live in holes in the ground, and this cir- 
cumstance hasgiven them their name. They are the lowestin the 



m'lkan county. 133 

scale of humanity, and are as innocent of clothing as Adam and 
Eve in the Garden before the fall. They show very little inge- 
nuity, and rely upon their bows and arrows to kill their game. 
Sometimes they build brush fences a half a mile or more in 
length. Two of these fences converge and form an acute angle 
with a small opening in the angle. The Indians then collect in 
large numbers and drive deer and other game between these 
fences, and as it comes out at the angle parties of Indians shoot 
it down with arrows. 

While in California Mr. Larison transported goods from the 
sea-coast inland about one hundred and fifty miles to the mines, 
which were between the summits of the mountains and the val- 
leys. There he traded groceries and provisions to the miners. 
But it was during the season of 1850 and '51 when there was a 
drouth. During the winter when rain was expected it continued 
perfectly dry, and the miners could not wash their gold. They 
had great heaps of earth piled up ready to be washed when the 
rain should come and the water should flow down the moun- 
tains. But the rain did not come, the miners were "dead 
broke," and Mr. Larison lost about twelve hundred dollars in 
his speculation. lie then left and went to mining, but it was a 
year before he made enough money to bring himself home. 

The society in California was hard, there was no safety for 
life or property, and that man was in danger who had money or 
a good mule. The miners had a very sure way of stealing 
mules. When a stranger came along with a good mule, some 
tough old miner would claim that he had lost the mule a few 
months before, that it had been stolen, and he would bring up 
four or five of his companions who would swear to his state- 
ment. The stranger was brought before a justice, who ot 
course was obliged to decide in accordance with the weight of 
evidence and give the miner the mule ! Mr. Larison bought a 
very fine mule at Rough and Ready. It was a splendid creature, 
coal black, with three Spanish brands. It was sure-footed, and 
would pick its way carefully with its heavy load through the 
dangerous denies and over the mountains. After traveling two 
hundred miles, and having kept it for a long time he sold the 
mule to Solomon Baker for seventy dollars. Baker enjoyed 
possession of the animal but a very short time. He was incau- 



134 OLD SETTLERS OF 

tious enough to leave Iris companions, and before long a stalwart 
miner laid claim to the mule and brought on a gang of villains 
who all swore the animal away from the unfortunate Baker. 
The latter came back on Larison, who, in turn, was obliged to 
refund the seventy dollars and pay also twelve dollars costs for 
the crime of having owned a pretty black mule ! But some- 
times this little game does not work. Occasionally the owner 
of the mule has proof unexpectedly near. One of the party 
happened to be riding a mule ten miles from Rough and Ready, 
when a hard-looking character claimed the animal and said he 
could produce his witnesses at Rough and Ready. The owner 
said "come right along," he had some witnesses there too. This 
rather astonished the strange claimant, and he concluded he had 
" struck the wrong lead." 

When Mr. Larison had made enough money by mining to 
come home he left the hard society of California. He was de- 
lighted with the climate, and would have been glad to have lived 
there if it had not been for the lawless people who first settled 
in that golden country. 

Mr. Larison is a man of rather less than medium height and 
not heavily built. In his younger days he was heavier, but he 
had a severe attack ot erysipelas and has never since been so 
healthy and strong. His eyes are small, but show good 
sense. His hair and beard are becoming a little gray with 
age. He seems to be a man of very good judgment. He has 
plenty of courage, and it is safe to say that he has never aban- 
doned any enterprise on account of fear. He is very cheerful, 
and his conversation is very interesting, particularly when he 
talks of early days. 

Mr. Larison has had nine children, of whom seven are 
living. They are : 

James M. and Lee Larison, live in Bloomington. 

Sarah, wife of A. S. Tompkins, lives in Hittle's Grove, Taze- 
well County. 

Melinda F., wife of Henry C. Fell, lives in Normal. 

George W. Larison lives in Arrowsmith township. 

Greenberry Larison, jr. lives one mile northwest of his father. 

John, familiarly called Jack, lives at home. 



m'lean county. 135 

Richard A. Warlow.. 

Richard A. Warlow, son of Benjamin Warlow, was born 
March 20, 1822, in Oneida County, New York. The family 
moved to Ohio, and in the fall of 1834 they came to Dry Grove, 
McLean County, Illinois. There they settled on a farm bought 
by Joshua Bond, an uncle to Richard. The family soon became 
acquainted with the people in the West, and during the fall of 
their arrival had a great corn-husking frolic. The inconven- 
iences of the country were severely felt, and Mrs. Warlow 
often said she would be perfectly satisfied if she could only have 
what wheat bread she wished to eat. The paradise on earth 
would be prepared, if she could have an unlimited supply of 
wheat bread. 

Mr. Warlow sustains all that has been said of the great 
change in the weather of 1836, and speaks of the geese which 
he saw frozen fast to the ice which covered the ground. 

In the fall of 1836 Mr. Warlow, sr., entered land a little 
north of Brown's Grove. There he built a little cabin of split 
logs, roughly notched and fitted and covered with bark. In 
this cabin three of the Warlow boys lived for a while, and cut 
rail timber and hauled it out of the grove. In February the 
family, which then numbered eight, moved down to their log 
cabin, which was twelve by fourteen feet. This cabin was near 
the place where R. A. Warlow now resides, in Allin township. 

Mr. Warlow's opportunities for obtaining an education have 
not been good. For two winters he attended school in Dry 
Grove. After he was twenty-one years of age he boarded and 
attended a subscription school at Dry Grove for twenty days, 
but at that time the school-house burned down and his school days 
were ended. When he began work for himself he engaged in 
various occupations ; he worked at pump making ; for many 
years he ran a threshing machine, and for a short time he at- 
tended to a saw-mill. He was handy at everything and suc- 
ceeded well. 

Mr. Warlow tells a pretty hard story of the prices of things 
in early days. In the year 1844 he attended a sale of stock at 
Dry Grove, and there bid off a yearling steer for $3.50 and was 
allowed one year's credit. After keeping it for a year or more 
he sold it for nine dollars ! R. A. Warlow obtained his start by 



136 OLD SETTLEKS OF 

raising corn and selling it in the neighborhood for twelve and a 
half cents per bushel. With money so obtained he bought the 
Clark estate at Stout's Grove. It consisted of about one hun- 
dred and thirteen acres, and he paid four hundred dollars for 
it. He afterwards sold out in order to enter land at Brown's 
Grove ; but when he was ready to enter, the land office was 
closed. The charter had been passed for building the Illinois 
Central Railroad, and no land was sold until the company had 
selected what belonged to it. But when the Illinois Central 
Company at last obtained its land the remainder of the unen- 
tered government land was all sold at once. When the sale 
took place the speculators were numerous. They would allow a 
farmer to buy a hundred and sixty acres of land for a farm, but 
this was all. If the farmer attempted to buy more they would 
bid up on the land until he was driven off altogether. Mr. 
Warlow afterwards bought land of the railroad company, and 
now owns six or seven hundred acres. He has been once burned 
out, and has lost some money by becoming security, but other- 
wise has had good fortune. The good luck, which always at- 
tends the careful and industrious farmer, has been with him, and 
he is prosperous. 

Mr. Warlow married Miss Lavinia Bosarth, April 29, 1849. 
He has had seven children, all of which are living. They are : 

Leslie, John, Belle, Ellen, Julia, Charlie and Annie. 

Mr. Warlow is six feet and an inch and a half in height, is 
rather spare but muscular. He has dark and rather straight 
hair and dark eyes. His features are prominent, and his face is 
somewhat long. He is a good-natured man and very kind. He 
attends to his business, sees quickly what will pay, and manages 
all of his affairs well. He is very straightforward in his deal- 
ings. 

John B. Thompson. 

John B. Thompson was born January 31, 1793, in Culpepper 
County, Virginia. His father's name was William Thompson 
and was of French descent. William Thompson enlisted in the 
Continental army when only sixteen years of age, and served 
until the close of the revolutionary struggle. William was 
sometimes up to his capers, and one little trick which he played 



m'lean county. 137 

came very near winding up his career as a soldier. He by some 
means obtained possession of two kegs of powder, winch had 
been wet and were taken out to dry. He fired them with a slow 
match, and the excitement which followed may be imagined. 
The soldiers of the entire camp were called into line, and great 
efforts were made to discover the perpetrator of the trick, but 
without success. William Thompson w T as in a number of severe 
engagements. When the war was ended and peace declared, he 
returned to his farm. He became a minister of the gospel of 
the Baptist denomination, and lived to a ripe old age. He was 
married to Elizabeth Gardner, who was born in Albemarle 
County, Virginia, but who was of Irish descent. 

In 1805 the Thompson family moved to Madison County, 
Kentucky, and in 1812 they moved to Boone County, same 
State. On the 2-lth of June, 1813, John B. Thompson was mar- 
ried to Poll}'' Steers, who was born August 4, 1791, and was of 
Irish parentage. He remained in Boone County until Septem- 
ber, 1829, when he determined to seek a home in the far West. 
He was not in affluent circumstances, and he did not like to live 
in the midst of slavery and bring up a family there. His outfit 
consisted of a four-horse wagon, one yoke of oxen, a few cows, 
and a little money. After a journey of twenty days he pitched 
his tent on the Mackinaw, about five miles east of where Lex- 
ington now stands. After looking around in various places he 
at last settled in the old Delaware Indian Town, situated on the 
banks of the Mackinaw. Many of the Indian lodges were then 
standing, and he used them for stabling and other purposes. 
The appearance and prospects of the country were not then very 
bright, as the people were obliged to go long distances for the 
necessaries of life. They were obliged to go nearly a hundred 
miles to mill. Mr. Thompson's house was a large sized log 
cabin, with a clapboard roof, and greased paper windows. When 
the " mansion " was built, Mr. Thompson went to Orendorft's 
mill, down on Sugar Creek, and, in his absence, as the family 
was without breadstuff, it was necessary for the children to 
grate and pound the corn to make the meal. 

During the spring of 1830 Mr. Thompson was very busy com- 
pleting an improvement on his farm. It seems that when the 
Indians were there, they had cut down many trees for the pur- 



138 OLD SETTLERS OF 

pose of burning the tops, and in some places bad cut enough to 
make a little Indian farm or patch for growing corn. With this 
clearing Mr. Thompson had about fifteen acres under cultivation 
and raised a fair crop during the first season. 

During the latter part of December, 1830, Mr. Thompson, 
with his brother-in-law, John Steers, each with a team, started 
to mill. They had been gone only a few days when the deep 
snow began to fall. Not anticipating the great storm, they kept 
on their course, obtained their loads of meal and returned to 
within eleven miles of home. By this lime the snow became so 
deep, that they were compelled to leave one of their wagons and 
double their teams to an ox-cart, in order to travel. They each 
took a sack of meal and succeeded in reaching home. But this 
did not last long, and the families were obliged to pound corn 
during the remainder of the winter, though they had plenty of 
meal only eleven miles distant. While the snow was on the 
ground, Mr. Thompson made an unsuccessful attempt to go to 
Indian Grove, a distance of ten miles, to see his brother-in-law, 
Martin Darnell, who was the only settler there. Mr. Thompson 
did not make another attempt to go there until the deep snow 
was partly melted, when he and John Iienline were successful 
in making their way to the grove. The Darnell family were in 
good health, but had lost the day of the week, and were ob- 
serving Saturday as the Lord's day of rest. 

The Mackinaw is a very uncertain stream, and sometimes 
rises very high, and Mr. Thompson built a canoe to be used in 
this stream when it overflowed its channel. It was used several 
years for this purpose until a bridge was built. 

During the year 1831, many people came to the western 
country; the older settlements were strengthened and new ones 
were formed. Society was then forming, election districts were 
formed and officers were chosen. During that year Mr. Thomp- 
son was elected justice of the peace, and served in this capacity 
for eight years. He assisted in the organization of the county 
and was one of the first grand jurors. He was at Bloomington 
when the county seat was located, and saw the stakes driven 
with a " nigger head " mall. 

During the Black Hawk war in 1832, the settlers on the 
Mackinaw were very much afraid of an attack by the Kicka- 



m'lean county. 139 

poos, who had a camp at Indian Grove, and a fort was builtat 
the house of John Ilenline to afford protection. A full descrip- 
tion of this matter is given in other sketches, and it is unneces- 
sary to repeat it here. 

The earl}' settlers were not immortal, and occasionally had a 
funeral, and this of course made the services of an undertaker 
very convenient. Mr. Thompson made coffins out of lumber 
dressed down from split puncheons. 

In 1834 immigration to Illinois was strong, and all comers 
met with a hearty welcome at their cabins. But mone} r was 
liable to great fluctuation, as the land was in market, and settlers 
made great efforts to collect money enough to enter their im- 
proved claims. This they were sometimes unable to do, and 
their improvements were in some cases sold at a great sacrifice. 

John B. Thompson is a man of fine appearance, rather above 
the medium height, with dark complexion and dark eyes. His 
head is a little bald ; his hair, which in his younger days was 
very black, is now partly gray; in walking his step is quick, but 
not so buoyant as formerly ; he retains his original vigor of 
mind, is a fluent talker, and while speaking of the country and 
tolling how "it used to be," he is very animated and earnest. It 
is said of him that " he is quite a young man, to be nearly 
eighty-one years of age." 

On the twentieth of April, 1873, the wife of Mr. Thompson 
died, after a happy married life of nearly sixty years. All of 
their living children, seven in number, were present at their 
mother's funeral. They are : 

Eliza Travis, born March 31, 1814. 

William II. Thompson, born January 12, 1818. 

Simson E. Thompson, born February 29, 1820. 

James F. Thompson, born September 13, 1822. 

Cirenia J. Cunningham, born October 3, 1824. 

David L. Thompson, born January 20, 1827. 

George W. Thompson, born September 11, 1832. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have had three children who are 
now dead, making thus in all a family of ten children. 



140 old settlers of 

Jacob Smith. 

Jacob Smith was born April 21, 1821, in Switzerland County, 
Indiana. His father's name was Charles Smith, and his mother's 
name before her marriage was Elizabeth Adams. Charles Smith 
was of Irish descent ; that of his wife Elizabeth is not known. 
Charles Smith was not confined to one occupation. He was 
sometimes a farmer and sometimes a flatboatman on the Ohio 
River. He was a captain in the militia and held this position 
until death, which occurred in the fall of 1832. During the spring 
of 1833 the Smith family of seven children, four girls and three 
boys, came with their mother to the head of the Mackinaw, 
about five miles above where Lexington now is. Their journey 
was a hard one, as it was rainy and muddy. They broke down 
on one Sunday, and an old Quaker on his way to church stopped 
and helped them to mend the wagon. That was the way the 
spirit moved him. They bought a claim of one hundred and 
sixty acres of land, with a cabin on it and twelve acres fenced 
and broke. But during the latter part of the summer the family 
took the ague ; it was a family affair and all came down with it. 
This discouraged them so much that in the fall of the year they 
went back to Indiana. There they remained a year, and in De- 
cember, 1834, started again for Illinois. At Indianapolis it 
began snowing and continued until eight inches of snow covered 
the ground. They stopped in an old shanty for a week, by 
which time the roads became broken and smooth and they again 
started on their journey. When they came near Terre Haute 
they found it difficult to get a place to stop, but at last a good 
man named Steele took them and charged them nothing for 
entertainment, When they arrived at Cheney's Grove they had 
twenty-five cents in money, which they used to bu} T a bushel of 
corn meal. They went on to the head of the Mackinaw, where 
they stayed one }^ear and then moved back to Cheney's Grove, 
where they made a permanent location. Mr. Smith has lived 
near Chene}^ Grove ever since. For the last twenty-eight or 
nine years he has lived on his place, about a mile west of the 
grove, in Arrowsmith township. He farmed for a while on old 
Jonathan Cheney's place. For a long time he was not rich 
enough to afford a strap for a line with which to guide his horses, 
but used linn bark. 



m'lean county. 141 

Mr. Smith has hunted deer, wolves and wild hogs. The lat- 
ter he considers very dangerous game, as their tusks grow out 
long, forming the most effective weapons for lighting. At one 
time, while hunting, he saw a dog take a wild hog by the car; 
but the hog threw up its snout and struck its tusk into the 
breast of the dog, penetrating to the heart at one stroke, killing 
the dog instantly. 

Mr. Smith married in April, 1842, Rosanna Newcom. He 
has had seven children, but only three are living. 

Ethan Allen Smith, the eldest son, enlisted in the 116th Illi- 
nois Volunteers, during the late war, and died at Memphis, 
Tenn., of typhoid fever. 

Charles W., Annie J. and Joseph Smith live at the home- 
stead with their father. Albert, Mary Ellen and Lucinda J. 
Smith are dead. 

Mr. Smith is about five feet and eleven inches in height, has 
brown hair, rather gray whiskers, and light grayish-blue eyes. 
He is broad-shouldered and very muscular. He has worked 
hard, has saved his earnings and never gone security for any 
one. He would rather pay a debt or lend the money than go 
security for it. He has never sued any one or been suepl. lie 
has a fine farm, well arranged, and certainly ought to enjoy life. 

BLOOMINGTON TOWNSHIP. 
John Hendrix. 

John Hendrix was born December 9, 1790, in Virginia. His 
parents were Susannah and William Hendrix. The Hendrix 
family moved to Champaign County, Ohio, and there John 
Hendrix married Jane Britton, in about the year 1813 or 1814. 

In the fall of 1821 John Hendrix and John W. Dawson came 
with their families to Sangamon County, Illinois, where they 
arrived about Christmas time, and there remained during the 
winter. In April, 1822, the Hendrix family came to what is 
now called Blooming Grove. Mr. Dawson came with them, but 
left his family in Sangamon County. An old man named Segar 
was also with the company. Mr. Hendrix settled on the place 
now owned by Oliver II. P. Orendorff. This was the first set- 
tlement made within the limits of the present McLean County. 



142 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Hendrix was therefore the first white settler with a family, 
and Mrs. Hendrix was the first white woman, who set foot upon 
this soil. Mr. Segar also made a claim and commenced work 
upon a place which he sold to William Orendorff. Mr. Dawson 
brought his family shortly afterwards and settled where Mr. Cox 
now lives. This was just north of Segar's, afterwards Oren- 
dorff's claim. The Hendrix and Dawson families lived about 
one mile apart, and visited each other every Sunday. Indeed 
they seemed two branches of one family. They could see no 
one else and they formed a world for themselves. The Hendrix 
family was very religious. Mr. Hendrix was a member of the 
Methodist Church and his house was for many years a preach- 
ing place for that denomination. The first sermon preached in 
what is now McLean County was delivered in 1823, in Mr. Hen- 
drix's house, by James Stringfield from Kentucky, an uncle to 
Squire A. M. Stringfield of Randolph's Grove. Mr. Hendrix 
was for many years previous to his death a class-leader in the 
church. He was an industrious, man and accumulated enough 
property to enable him to live in comfort. He never became 
wealthy, for he died before the land became valuable. Mr. 
Hendrix had eight children, of whom five lived to be grown. 
They are : 

Nathan Evans Hendrix, who now lives in Monroe County, 
Iowa. 

William Hendrix, who lives in Placerville, Eldorado County, 
California. He has been there since 1850. 

Elizabeth, wife of Hiram Harbert, who died in 1842. 

John Britton Lewis Hendrix, who lives in Monroe County, 
Iowa. 

Sarah Lovina Sales Hendrix, now Mrs. Orendorff, lives at 
Blooming Grove. 

Mr. Hendrix was rather above the medium stature and 
weighed perhaps one hundred and sixty pounds. His hair was 
rather dark and his eyes blue. He was very quiet in his man- 
ner, was always ready to do a favor, indeed always glad to do 
so. He died on the farm where he made his early settlement 
and was buried there. 



m'lean county. 143 

John Wells Dawson. , 

John W. Dawson was born March 9, 1792, on a farm near 
Maysville, Kentucky. His father was of English descent and 
his mother was of Welch. He belonged to a family of eight 
children. His parents died when he was quite young. He 
served in the war of 1812 as a wagon-master. A few months 
after peace was declared he married Ann Cheney, who was born 
September 17, 1794, in Kentucky. John W. Dawson lived for 
some time in Alabama and afterwards in Clark County, Ohio. 
From the latter place he came with John Hendrix to Sangamon 
County, Illinois, in the fall of 1821, arriving about Christmas 
time. Their journey lasted six weeks. It was at times unpleas- 
ant because of the swamps, the wolves often came howling 
around them, particularly while cooking, but they came through 
safely at last. On the road they killed turkeys, prairie chickens 
and deer. In April, 1822, John W. Dawson came with John 
Hendrix and his family to Blooming Grove. The family of Mr. 
Dawson remained in Sangamon County at the house of Evans 
Britton, an uncle of Mrs. Hendrix. This was on account of the 
sickness of Mrs. Dawson. Sometime in June the family came 
on to Blooming Grove and made a permanent settlement on a 
farm now owned by David Cox about one mile from Hendrix's 
place. Here he remained four years, and the settlers came in 
rapidly. In March, 1826, he sold out for four hundred dollars 
and moved to Old Town timber. The land was not then in 
market, and when he sold his.farm it was simply the claim and 
improvement to which he gave title. He made a settlement at 
Old Town timber on one hundred and sixty acres ; but when 
the land came in market he entered nine hundred. It is now 
all cut. up into farms. 

Mrs. John W. Dawson was a jovial and witty woman. At 
one time while Harrison and Van Buren were candidates for 
president, an opponent of General Harrison declared that the 
latter had mismanaged his men at the battle of Tippecanoe, and 
that they were nearly all killed. " Oh no," said Mrs. Dawson, 
"enough are left to elect him." The stranger gazed at her for 
some time and then concluded to drop the discussion of political 
questions. Mrs. Dawson thought a great deal of her neighbors 
and liked to visit them. People, who lived a long distance 



144 OLD SETTLERS OF 

away, were neighbors. On a very cold day Mrs. Dawson mount- 
ed a horse and started with her babe in her arms to visit a friend 
ten miles distant. On her way she met a stranger, who came 
to look over the country. " Aru't you afraid of freezing ?" said 
the stranger. "No," said Mrs. Dawson, "I am only going over 
to the neighbors." 

During the winter of the deep snow the Dawson family lived 
happily, pounded their corn, of course, but had flour which 
lasted until March. Mr. Dawson amused himself during that 
long winter by teasing an elderly maiden lady and a bachelor 
by making propositions to unite them in the holy bonds of 
matrimony. His efforts were unsuccessful. 

Mr. John Ilendrix sometimes hauled goods for James Allin 
from Pekin. At one time, when he arrived at Bloomington, 
Mr. Allin examined the bill of lading and asked "Where is the 
box of fish ?" " The fish were spoiled," said Mr. Ilendrix, "and 
smelt fearfully, and I threw off the box at Mackinaw timber." 
"Why, Mr. Hendrix, they were codfish. Don't you know that 
codfish always smell." Hendrix returned for the box. 

In about the year 1858 Mr. Dawson moved to Iowa about four 
miles from Fort Dodge. Only his wife and his youngest daugh- 
ter went with him. He died there on the 7th of October, 1865, 
and his wife died during the fall of 1871. 

John W. Dawson had ten children, of whom nine lived to be 
grown. They are : 

£jgg Henry Dawson, who lives in Indianola, Iowa; Maria, who 
married Owen Cheney, who died some years ago. She is now 
the wife of Mr. William Paist of Bloomington. 

John Dawson, whose sketch appears in this volume. Isaac 
Dawson, who was born in Sangamon County, when the family 
first came to Illinois. He is now dead. Nancy Jane, wife of 
William Harrison of Old Town, died some years since. 

Lucinda, wife of Dr. A. II. Luce, lives in Bloomington. 

Mary, wife of Daniel Stine, lives in Olathe, Johnson County, 
Kansas. 

Clarinda, wife of Alexander Miller, lives in De Sota, John- 
son County, Kansas. 

Lewis Dawson died six or seven years ago. 

Martha Ann, wife of Sillman Sherman, lives at Fort Dodge, 
Iowa. 



m'lean county. 145 

John W. Dawson was of medium size, was heavy set, had 
black hair and black eyes and weighed one hundred and sixty 
or seventy pounds. He was very hospitable, and strangers 
always found a home there. 

John Dawson, (of Bhomington.) 

Among the earliest and best known settlers in McLean 
County was John Dawson. John Dawson was born August 14, 
1819, on Buck Creek Farm, Clark County, Ohio. His ancestors 
were from old English and Welch stock, his grandfather, Henry 
Dawson, having emigrated from the old country at a very early 
day. Both his grandfather and his father, John Wells Dawson, 
were farmers, and from their out-of-door life acquired healthy, 
rugged constitutions. There were ten children in the Dawson 
family, six girls and four boys. One of the boys, the eldest son, 
now resides at Indianola, Iowa. He, too, is a pioneer. 

John Wells Dawson came with his family to Sangamon 
County, Illinois, in the year 1821, about Christmas time, young 
John Dawson being then only three years old. In April, 1822, 
John W. Dawson and John Hendrix and family came to Bloom- 
ing Grove about four miles from the present city of Blooming- 
ton and built three shanties. The present farm of David Cox 
and that of the widow of John Cox were Mr. Dawson's property. 
Hendrix settled one mile west of this, at a place now known as 
the Orendorff farm. It was here that they had a lively experi- 
ence with " Lo," the poor Indian. The Kickapoo Indians were 
jealous of the incoming white men and their chief, Machina, 
ordered Mr. Dawson's family to quit the country before the 
leaves fell. This he did by throwing leaves in the air. By this 
and other signs he gave them to understand that if they were 
not gone when the leaves in the forest should fall, he would kill 
all the bootadas (white men). Mrs. Dawson replied to him that 
the time he had given would be sufficient to call together enough 
bootanas to exterminate all the Indians. The old chief was 
very "wrathy" at this and made some terrible threats which he 
had the good sense never to carry out. At the close of the 
summer of 1822 some Indians, about^fteen hundred in number, 
encamped in front of Mr. Dawson's farm-gate and remained 
during the following winter. Contrary to expectation they were 
10 



146 OLD SETTLERS OF 

the best of neighbors and were on terms of perfect friendship 
with the Dawson family. The youthful John was highly de- 
lighted with his copper-colored friends and was a great favorite 
with them, especially with the squaws. Two of the old squaws, 
called aunt Peggy and aunt Nancy, dressed him up in a heavy 
suit of buckskin and made a fine looking papoose out of him. 
But the Indians could never stand before civilization, and in 
the winter of 1833 and '34 they were paid at Chicago the money 
due them from the government and removed to the far West. 

When the Dawson family settled at Blooming Grove in 1822 
there was not a single house between their place and Chicago ; 
the whole country was wild prairie. Springfield, Danville and 
Peoria were their nearest neighbors. Mr. Dawson lived on the 
Blooming Grove farm until the spring of 1826, when he moved 
to Old Town timber or Dawson's Grove about fifteen miles east 
of the present city of Bloomington. Two miles southeast of 
his farm was the Indian village of the Kickapoo nation. The 
old Indian fort is still to be seen, and curiosities of all kinds, 
such as brass kettles, Indian brooches, etc., are still found there. 
The early settlers were anxious for the education of their chil- 
dren, and indeed a plentiful crop of school children is better for 
the material interest of the country than a crop of wheat or corn. 
There were many difficulties to be overcome, but the pioneers 
had learned never to hesitate at trifles. The school-houses were 
not the little palaces of learning in which the children now study 
their lessons ; they were not so comfortably heated in winter, 
but on the other hand there was no lack of ventilation, for the 
fresh prairie breezes could come through the chinks between 
the logs without any patent appliances. There were no pale 
students driven into the early stages of consumption for want of 
pure air. 

In 1828 Mr. Dawson (senior) built the first school-house in 
McLean County. It was made of logs and lighted with win- 
dows of white paper instead of glass. The first school-teacher 
was Delilah Mullen, who taught her young pupils at Mr. Daw- 
son's house before the school-house was finished. The first 
house where the city of Bloomington now stands, was built by 
William Evans in 1827. But this house was not in the original 
town. The south part of the city was then scattering timber, 



m'lean county. 147 

commencing ffom near Gridley's residence and running up to 
the Court House. 

In the winter of 1830 and '31 Bloomington was chosen 
county seat of McLean County. Judge Lockwood held the 
first session of court in 1882; but as far as Mr. Dawson can re- 
member there were no cases on the docket. The first Court 
House was a frame building twenty by thirty feet and stood on 
the site of the present Court House, but was afterwards moved 
away to make room for a finer building. The first sale of town 
lots in Bloomington took place on the Fourth of July, 1831. It 
was then that John Dawson bought a lot which was sixty feet by 
one hundred and fifteen for four dollars and thirty cents. In 
1848 he built a house on it and sold it to a Rev. Mr. Perry for 
$800. It now belongs to Dr. H. Schroeder who purchased it of 
Perry for $5,500. The lot and house are east of Schroeder's 
Opera House and belong to the Postoffice Block. Of the orio-i- 
nal town of Bloomington only forty acres were laid out; all of 
the other parts are additions. The streets of the original town 
running east and west are Washington, Jefferson and North 
streets ; those running north and south are East, Main, Center 
and West streets. 

In early days the modes of travel were more picturesque than 
convenient. On land were ox-teams and on water were flat- 
boats. The railroad was a " down east" institution. Pullman 
had not then invented palace cars, and if he had done so the 
early settlers could not have enjoyed their magnificence. The 
forest and the prairie were occasionally marked by solitary In- 
dian trails, and these were all the guides from point to point. 
Old Town timber and Peoria, which was then called Fort Clark, 
were connected by an Indian trail. 

The first train of the Illinois Centra] railroad ran into 
Bloomington from La Salle in the spring of 1853 and the Chica- 
go and Alton road was finished in June of the same year. 
Bloomington had at that time fifteen hundred inhabitants and 
its progress has been rapid ever since. 

The weather was a matter of greater moment to the pioneers 
than to us, as they were always exposed to its changes, and all 
of them have sharp recollections of the frosts of winter. The 
year 1830 was perhaps the most remarkable for the severity of 



148 OLD SETTLEKS OF 

Aveather. During that year the snow commenced falling on the 
last day of December, until in the timber it laid three feet in 
depth while on the prairie the drifts rose to great heights. The 
wild animals became ferocious and the wolves killed nearly all 
the deer ; the few deer that remained could scarcely find any- 
thing to eat. They were so poor and hungry that they could be 
caught by hand. They could be attracted by felling a tree and 
Avhen the poor creatures came to pick the leaves they could be 
easily caught. Since that time deer have been comparatively 
scarce. But the year 1836 was perhaps the most remarkable for 
its sudden changes. Mr. Dawson relates that during that year 
he had a very severe experience. During the winter he went to 
William's mill which is located on Salt Creek, six miles south 
of Le Roy. He had two yoke of oxen drawing a load of wheat 
and corn to be ground. The snow was two feet deep ; in the 
afternoon it commenced raining and continued until noon the 
next day. On that day Mr. Dawson started for home and at 
about three o'clock in the afternoon he was one mile from Henry 
Crumbaugh's place. Suddenly he heard a noise like the roar- 
ing of distant thunder and on looking around could see the 
approach of a storm. An intensely cold wind then came, freez- 
ing everything almost immediately. He had scarcely gone one 
hundred yards with his ox-team before the frozen slush would 
bear his weight, and it was with the greatest difficulty that he 
succeeded in getting back to Crumbaugh's and in preventing 
his team from slipping. 

Of course Mr. Dawson has been married. This interesting 
event took place in the year 1842 at Albana, Champaign County, 
Ohio. The name of the happy bride was Caroline Wiley. 

Perhaps the reader who has taken some interest in the expe- 
rience of this pioneer may wish to know something of his per- 
sonal appearance. John Dawson is well formed and is a little 
above the medium size. He has a very honest and intellectual 
countenance and his nose is sometimes ornamented with spec- 
tacles. He is not a man of much book learning, as the pioneers 
did not have the best facilities for education; but he has, as. 
much as possible, educated himself. He possesses a jewel which 
we are sorry to say is somewhat rare, and that is good common 
-ense. He is a man who commands respect among his fellows 
and is able to clear the way and contend with difficulties. 



m'lkan county. 149 

William Oremdorff. 

William Orendortf was born March 26, 1702, in Georgia. He 
is of German descent. His father's name was Christopher Ollen- 
dorff and his mother was Elizabeth Phillips before her marriage. 
William Orendortf was the oldest of a family of twelve children, 
eight boys and four girls, all of whom grew up to manhood and 
womanhood and all, except one, were married. He visited Illi- 
nois first in 1816 and emigrated to the State with his family 
during the following year, to St. Clair County and lived there 
and in Clinton County until the fall of 1822. During the winter 
of 1822 and '23 he lived in Sangamon County. In the spring 
of 1823 he moved to Blooming Grove, Fayette County, in what 
is now the county of McLean, and arrived there on the second 
of May, 1823. Soon after his arrival he was ordered away by 
Machina and others of the Indians, but refused to go and was 
not molested. Mr. Orendortf was a man of first-rate judgment 
and very popular and in 1825 was appointed justice of the 
peace by Governor Coles. It is seen by his commission that he 
was first nominated by the House of Representatives, confirmed 
by the Senate and commissioned by the Governor, and held the 
office during good behavior. The following is the commission : 

" Know ye that William Orendortf, having been nominated 
by the House of Representatives to the office of justice of the 
peace for the County of Fayette and his nomination having been 
confirmed by the Senate, I, Edward Coles, Governor of said 
State, for and on behalf of the people aforesaid, do appoint him 
Justice of the Peace for said count} 7 and do authorize and em- 
power him to execute and fulfill the duties of that office accord- 
ing to law. And to have and to hold the said office with all the 
rights and emoluments thereunto legally appertaining during 
good behavior. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my 
hand and caused the State seal to be affixed this sixth day of 
January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and twenty-five, and of the independence of the United States 
the forty-ninth. 

By the Governor : 
[seal.] EDWARD COLES. 

M. Birkbeck, Secretary of State.'' 

He did not take the oath of office until the following Decern- 



150 OLD SETTLERS OF 

ber. When Tazewell County was cut oft' from -Fayette, Mr. 
Orendorff was re-commissioned during good behavior, but when 
the new constitution of Illinois making his office elective went 
into effect, Mr. Orendorff" was, at the first election held in Taze- 
well County, chosen justice of the peace and was commissioned 
Sept. 29, 1827. This election was held at William Orendorff 's 
house. 

The great hurricane, which passed through Blooming Grove, 
came late in the afternoon of the nineteenth of June, 1827. Mr. 
Orendorff returned soon after, and when he saw the destruction 
it caused and the trees in the timber piled up twenty feet high, 
he declared that he would sell out everything for $200, if he 
could get it, and move away. This great hurricane covered 
seven acres of land, which William Evans had planted in corn, 
with limbs and brush and it was considered utterly ruined. Then 
William Orendorff", who was one of the most generous and kind- 
hearted of men, gave Mr. Evans five acres of growing corn, pro- 
vided only that the latter would cultivate it. Evans' corn, which 
was so injured, afterwards produced something of a crop, and 
he sold it for $100, and entered with the money eighty acres of 
land which he lived on near Bloomington and which is now 
included in the city. Mr. Evans always gave the credit for his 
start in the world to William Orendorff". 

During the winter of the deep snow he helped Major Baker 
to build his mill, with " nigger head" stones for grinding. In 
the fall of 18-32 Mr. Orendorff* was sick with the cholera, so 
sick that his physicians gave him up. At one time he arose in 
his bed and said : " What is the use of a man's being dead 
and alive again," and from his ffightiness it was thought he 
had but a few moments yet to live, but he rallied and recovered 
from the jaws of death. The disease was accompanied by a 
troublesome hiccough, and when the hiccough ceased the dis- 
ease was broken up. 

Mr. Orendorff" was married four times. He first married in 
Kentucky in about the year 1811 Miss Sally Nichols. By this 
marriage he had three children, James, Elizabeth and William. 
She died not long afterwards. He next married in Illinois 
Miss Lovina Sayles, in about the year 1819, and by this mar- 
riage had five children, two boys and three girls. They were 



m'lean county. 151 

Sarah, Oliver, Lewis, Mary J. and Nancy. His wife Lovina died 
November 9, 1831. In 1834 he married Miss Susan Ogden, 
and by this marriage had two children, Christopher and Mar- 
garet. She died not long afterwards. On his sixty-second 
birth-day Mr. Orendorff married Miss Naomi Abel and by this 
marriage had four children, Francis, Orrin, Emma and William. 
Four of his children are now living in McLean County. James 
K. Orendorff, Oliver H. P. Orendorff and John Lewis Orendorff 
live at or near Blooming Grove. Christopher Orendorff lives 
near Cheney's Grove. 

Mr. Orendorff was a man of great popularity and had many 
friends. He took great pleasure in entertaining everyone who 
came to his house. He loved to see their friendly faces and 
probably thought that the most perfect happiness consisted in 
giving the people of the earth a good dinner and enjoying 
their smiles and friendly greetings. He had indeed a generous 
disposition, too generous for his own good. He was always 
ready to help and assist. This disposition made him a man of 
great popularity and influence. He became, not long before 
his death, a member of the Methodist church; he had pre- 
viously inclined to universalism. He died May 12, 1869, in the 
seventy-eighth year of his age. 

Thomas Orendorff and John Berry Orendorff. 

Thomas Orendorff was born August 14, 1800, in Spartan- 
burg, South Carolina. His father's name was Christopher 
Orendorff and his mother's, before her marriage, was Elizabeth 
Phillips. His father was of German descent, and his mother 
was American. His father had a family of twelve children, all 
of whom grew to be men and women. The Orendorff family 
left Spartanburg before Thomas was seven years old ; neverthe- 
less he remembers much of the place, and particularly calls to- 
mind afire in the thickly wooded pine forest. This fire was grander 
than any prairie fire he has ever seen in the West. Impressions 
made upon children are sometimes very lasting. Mr. Oren- 
dorff remembers a preacher by the name of Golightly, who 
did indeed go lightly upon his religion, for he became very 
worldly minded. Mr. Orendorff remembers very well the ne- 



152 OLD SETTLERS OF 

groes of South Carolina, who were very kindly treated and lived 
in comfortable quarters. 

In about the year 1807 the Orendorff family moved west of 
the Cumberland Mountains, to Franklin County, Tennessee. 
The land there was owned principally by speculators, and had 
been surveyed in large tracts, so the Orendorff family took a 
new departure, and in 1811 came to Kentucky. The country was 
then very wild. He remembers that two little boys were lost in 
the mountains, one a white and one a negro, and were not found 
until nearly starved to death. Religious excitement sometimes 
became very high in Kentucky, and at revivals the most out- 
rageous antics would be performed. People would diance and 
jerk and run and fall on the floor. 

It was in the year 1811 that the earthquake of New Madrid 
occurred and the shocks were plainly felt in Kentucky. They 
felt the earth shake and heard noises similar to distant thunder. 
Mr. Orendorff afterwards saw many chimneys, which had been 
shaken down on the American bottom opposite St. Louis, but 
the earthquake did no particular damage in Kentucky. After 
raising one crop in Christian County, the Orendorff family 
moved to Henderson County, Kentucky, near the site of the 
present town of Hendersonville, and remained there until the 
spring of 1817, when they came to Illinois. They stayed one 
year on the Little Wabash, and in the spring of 1818 came to 
St. Clair, east of Belleville. In the spring of 1819 Thomas 
Orendorff went to Sangamon County, and the family followed 
in the fall. It was then called the Saint Gamy country, but the 
words were afterwards united by common usage and became 
Sangamon. Their occupation was fighting mosquitoes, breaking 
prairie, splitting rails, &c. At that time very few settlers had 
come to Sangamon County; but during the year 1820 they came 
in very fast. That part of the country was then very wet, and 
. Thomas Orendorff determined at once to find a better loca- 
tion. In 1823 he and his brother William mounted their horses 
and came to Blooming Grove, then called Keg Grove, where 
they found two settlers, Dawson and Ilendrix. They looked 
over the country for some time, and at last Thomas found a spot 
at Blooming Grove that suited him, and said : "There's my 
claim," and took it. This is the place now owned by Stephen 



m'lean county. 158 

Houghton. William Orendorff bought a claim for fifty dollars 
in the southeast of Blooming Grove and settled there. Thomas 
Orendorff returned twice to Sangamon County, and the last 
time brought the family of William Orendorff from there to 
Blooming Grove, where they arrived on the second of May, 
1823. 

When Thomas and William Orendorff settled in McLean 
County the old chief of the Kickapoos came with Machina (af- 
terwards their chief) and ordered them to leave. But the old 
chief spoke English in such a poor manner that Thomas Oren- 
dorff told him to keep still and let Machina talk. Then Machina 
drew himself up and said in his heavy voice : "Too much come 
back, white man. T'other side Sangamon." Mr. Orendorff told 
Machina that the latter had sold the land to the whites ; but 
Machina denied it, and the discussion waxed warm, and the 
chiefs went away feeling very much insulted. Mr. Ollendorff's 
friends considered his life very much in danger, and he was 
advised to leave the country by Judge Latham, the Indian 
agent, but he attended to his business and was not molested. At 
one time an Indian, called Turkey, came to Mr. Orendorff and 
gave him warning that Machina would kill him ; but no attempt 
was made to put such a threat into execution. 

The Indians in this locality were principally Kickapoos, but 
after a while some Delawares came, but they looked to the 
Kickapoos for protection. The Pottawotamies also passed 
through occasionally. 

The Delawares were much like the Kickapoos. For the cu- 
riosity of the reader we give here a few words of the Delaware 
language, which were remembered by Mrs. Orendorff. They 
used the decimal system in counting, and the following are their 
numerals up to ten : Cota, nitia, naha, nawai, palini, cotosh, 
nishhosh, hosh, pashcon, telon. 

The Indians, it is well known, never loved work, but occa- 
sionally they indulged in it by way of variety. One Indian, 
called Moonshine, chopped logs for Mr. Orendorff while the 
latter split rails. Mr. Orendorff paid him a twist of tobacco 
for each cut, which made fifteen or twenty rails. The Indian 
earned nine twists of tobacco and was rich. Mr. Moonshine 
also assisted Mr. Orendorff in putting up a cabin. 



154 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Among the Kickapoos were two Delaware squaws, who were 
really curiosities. They were Aunt Peggy and Aunt Nancy. 
The former was said to have been the wife of one of the Girtys, 
who, it is well known, left civilization, joined the Indians and 
fought against the whites. These were well educated squaws, 
and Aunt Peggy was a Presbyterian, but it is unpleasant to relate 
that, notwithstanding Aunt Peggy's education and her member- 
ship in the Presbyterian Church, she had the failing so common 
among Indians — she drank more whisky than was good for an 
elderly matron. 

Mr. Orendorft' says the Indians have the same little jealousies 
and heartburnings which trouble the whites, and these little 
feelings are sometimes manifested in curious ways. At one time 
he saw a Kickapoo and a Delaware talking together in a pleasant 
way. They seemed to be on the most intimate terms of friend- 
ship. They had been to a dance together during the evening 
previous, and it seemed that they were Damon and Pythias come 
to earth again, and that in their warm aifection they would be 
willing to give their lives for each other. But a moment after- 
wards their backs were turned and the Delaware said to Mr. 
Orendorft": "Ugh! don't like Kickapoo; Kickapoo is mean"; 
and probably the Kickapoo had the same opinion of the Dela- 
ware. 

Mr. OrendorfF settled on his claim in Blooming Grove in the 
fall of 1824, and in October of that year married Mary Malinda 
Walker. The service was performed by Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes. 

Mr. Orendorff's experience with the winter of the deep snow 
was very much like the experience of others. His stock walked 
over stake and rider feuces, and he pounded corn as did the rest 
of his neighbors. 

AVhen Mr. Orendorft" came to this country, the county was 
called Fayette, but shortly afterwards Tazewell County was or- 
ganized, and the excitement over it was very great. The first 
election in Tazewell County was held at the house of William 
Orendorft', where Mr. W. H. Hodge was elected sheriff and 
Thomas Orendorft" coroner. 

Mr. Orendorft" thinks he was the first who gave the name of 
Blooming to the grove. The circumstances are related in the 
sketch of John Rhodes. The two men were writing letters and 



m'lean county. 155 

when Rhodes asked what name to give the grove, Mr. Orendorff 
looked up to the maple trees which were just coming out with 
blossoms and said : "It looks blooming here, I think we had 
better call it Blooming Grove. 

In the year 1830 the county of McLean was organized. 
Various petitions were circulated for that purpose, and in order 
to show that no "snap judgment" was taken a small protest 
against it was presented from Waynesville. The petition was 
taken to Vandalia by Thomas Orendorff and Colonel James 
Latta. Mr. William Lee D. Ewing, a very fine man, who was 
the speaker of the house, interested himself in the matter. But 
Mr. Ewing was rather slow about it and the two men were 
obliged to wait for several days. At last Mr. Ewing called them 
into his room and asked what the name of the county should be. 
Colonel Latta wished it named Hendricks County after Mr. 
Hendricks of Indiana; but Mr. Ewing remarked that he was 
afraid to have it called after any living man, for no person's 
reputation was safe before he was in his grave, for if he was 
living he might possibly do some thing mean and the county 
would be ashamed of him. Mr. Ewing therefore proposed to 
call the name of the county McLean after John McLean, who 
had been their representative in congress and was very much 
thought of. This was done and the great countv of McLean 
received its name. The bill was passed without any opposition 
through the Lower House in the forenoon and through the Sen- 
ate in the afternoon. In the bill, creating the county, three com- 
missioners were named to locate the county seat. They were 
Mr. Freeman and Jonathan Pugh of Macon County and Lemuel 
Lee of Vandalia. The commissioners appointed Thomas Oren- 
dorff the first assessor. The first assessment was made roughly 
on what each person was worth without specifying his property, 
and was completed in thirteen days. The lowest valuation of 
property was eleven dollars. 

After remaining at Blooming Grove for some time, Mr. 
Orendorff began to take a philosophical view of the country and 
of the genera] prospect, and came to the conclusion that the 
groves would be well settled around their edges in the course of 
time, and he expected some day to see Blooming Grove sur- 
rounded bv a cordon of farms. Then he began to ask himself 



156 OLD SETTLERS OF 

how in such a case the cattle could get out from the grove to the 
prairie to graze. After thinking the matter over for some time 
he moved to Little Grove about three-quarters of a mile east of 
the lower end of Blooming Grove, where he lives at the present 
time. But his expectations of always having range for his cattle 
have been blasted. The prairie has become thickly settled and 
is covered with farms, and the almost boundless pasture is gone. 

Mr. Orendorff has had thirteen children of whom eleven 
grew up to manhood and womanhood. They are : 

John Berry Orendorff who lives near his father. 

David Owen OrendorfY who now lives in Kansas. 

Mrs. Mary Sophronia Able, wife of Daniel Able of Cheney's 
Grove. 

Mrs. Catherine Scott, wife of John Scott of Bloomington 
township. 

Mrs. Caroline Baremore, wife of John Baremore of Bloom- 
ington township. 

Mrs. Sarah Margaret Orendorff, wife of Thomas Orendorff of 
Hopedale. 

Thomas Walker Orendorff. 

Mrs. Martha Malinda Luce, wife of Albert Luce of Bloom- 
ington township. 

Charles Orendorff lives at home. 

Ben Jay Orendorff, who lives in Chicago. 

Mrs. Olive Jane Hollis, wife of Allen Hollis, lives at her 
father's house. 

Mr. Orendorff is very tall, is six feet four and one-half inches 
high. It is pretty hard to give a clear idea of his appearance 
and expression. When he smiles, his laugh goes into his chin 
and he appears exceedingly amused. It is a pleasure to be in 
his presence and see him smile. He is kind to his family and 
his neighbors, and when he parts with them he says kindly " I 
wish you well." We are sure that everyone who knows him 
must wish him well, and even if old Machiua, the Kickapoo 
chief, were living, he would be willing to forget their old ani- 
mosity and " shake hands across the bloody chasm." 



m'lean county. 157 

John Berry Orendorff. 

John Berry Orendorft* was born May 3, 1827, on the old 
Mason farm, in the south part of Blooming Grove, on the place 
now owned by Stephen Houghton, Although he was very young 
when the deep snow came in 1830 and '31, he clearly remembers 
it, and remembers the walls of snow which were thrown up to 
make a path from the house to the barn. 

The sudden change in the weather which came in Decem- 
ber, 1836, came when the little Orendorffs were out at play in 
the yard and nearly blew them away and froze their little noses 
before they could get into the house. 

Mr. Ollendorff's experience has been that of nearly all the 
old settlers. He has fought fire on the prairies when it threat- 
ened to take everything before it; he has at a single time been 
obliged to fight it for two miles and a half, when it rolled on be- 
tween Blooming and Randolph's Grove. 

Mr. Orendorft* remembers very clearly, and gives a good de- 
scription of the queer contrivances used by the people of early 
days. It was the duty of every settler to exercise his ingenuity 
in fighting against the common enemy of the farmers, the 
Avolves, which carried oft* the chickens and sheep and little pigs. 
Traps were made for them of the most ingenious kind. A trap 
was made of logs or heavy poles, and was ten feet square and 
two and a half or three feet high. The floor was of puncheons, 
so that the wolves could not scratch out underneath. One of the 
top logs was hinged, and was raised up and braced with a trig- 
ger, after the fashion of a rabbit trap. The trigger was inside, 
and had attached to it a piece of meat. The wolves would 
smell the meat for a long distance^and come up to the trap cau- 
tiously and jump in and grab the meat, when the log above 
would fall and capture them. 

The first plows used by the settlers were made of wood, the 
next of iron and the last of steel. The first plow which Mr. 
Orendorft' used was called the Barshear. This was a plow hav- 
ing a piece of iron for a shear, which ran flat on the ground 
and had a bar attached which extended from the point several 
feet back, and held the plow steady. The mould board was 
made of wood, and the plow worked very well. Many hundreds 
of thousands of acres have been ploughed with the Barshear. 



158 OLD SETTLERS OF 

But after a while an improvement was made, and the Cary plow 
with an iron mould board was manufactured. But this would 
not scour, and a plow with a mould board of steel was substi- 
tuted. 

Corn was formerly ploughed by going three times through 
the furrow, but with the modern cultivator it is only necessary 
to go once. The wheat was formerly cut with a sickle, pitched 
with wooden forks and tramped out with horses. The first har- 
rows were A shaped, and had wooden teeth, but now they are 
of various shapes and have teeth of steel. Wheat was cleaned 
by throwing it in the air, or slowly dropping it from some high 
place and fanning it as it fell, with a sheet which two persons 
raised and lowered. The people raised their own sheep, cut 
the wool, washed it, picked it to pieces and carded it, and the 
women spun it. Every farmer raised flax. It was pulled by 
hand and laid in piles, until it was bleached and rotted, then it 
was tied up and hauled in. When dry it was broken with a 
hand break and the shives (or bark) were separated by striking 
the flax with a wooden knife, as the flax was held over a board, 
called a scutcheon board. The tow was afterwards separated 
by a fine hackle or comb, and was used for coarse goods, while 
the flax was used for fine goods. It was spun and woven by the. 
women. Ropes were made of tow by twisting the single strands 
with cranks, then passing them through holes and twisting tin in 
all together. Cotton was often raised and taken to Springfield 
to be ginned, after which it was spun and woven by the indus- 
trious women. 

Mr. Orendorffis a man rather above the ordinary stature and 
is quite heavily built. He is a thriving and industrious farmer, 
a hard worker, and a good father to his interesting family. He 
likes to see his friends and usually keeps some good cider for 
them. He married November 18, 1847, Nancy Jane McCairn, 
and has had six children in all, five of whom are living. 

James K. Orendorff. 

James K. Orendorff was born December 28, 1812, near Hop- 
kinsville, Kentucky. His parents were of German and Welch 
descent. His father, William Orendorff, was born in Georgia. 
He made a visit to Illinois in 1816, and in 1817 came with his 



m'lean county. 159 

family to live hero. He settled in St. Clair County and lived 
there and in Clinton County until the fall of 1822. He lived 
during the winter of 1822 and '23 in Sangamon County, within 
six miles of Springfield. During the fall of 1822 he made a visit 
to Blooming Grove, and moved there on the second of May, 
1823. He first made a log cabin, then hewed puncheons and 
clapboards and made a house. These early houses were curios- 
ities in their way. The door of Mr. OrendorfF 's cabin was, he 
thinks, pinned on with wooden pins. The shelves were made 
of boards held up with pins. The hearth and fire place were of 
beaten earth, and the chimney was made of sticks and clay. The 
first school teacher to whom he went was William H. Hodare. 
who understood how to teach the little pioneers their a, b, c's 
successfully. When Mr. OrendorfF came here the country was 
an almost unbroken wilderness. A few miners were at work 
near Galena, and a few whites at the salt works about six miles 
this side of Danville. 

Mr. OrendorfF remembers the changes in the weather. 
These are matters more particularly noted by the early settlers, 
as they were more exposed to wind and storm and sudden 
changes. In the spring of 1827, by the middle of March, the 
grass was ankle high in the marshes, and the prairies had a 
greenish tinge, but not enough grass for cattle, except near the 
sloughs. 

The people did their trading at Springfield, and there they 
went to mill. Every settler who went did trading for himself 
and his neighbors. People then had very little money to buy 
with, and nearly all business was done by exchange. 

The people then practised the most rigid economy. Thev 
spun their own clothing and colored it with walnut bark, indigo 
and hickory bark. They raised their own cotton and flax and 
made their own sugar. They boiled maple sap in large iron 
kettles, which they bought by weight, giving for them maple 
sugar and trading pound for pound. The settlers made their 
own boots and shoes and clothing of all kinds. Mrs. OrendorfF 
has a quilt made of cotton by hand before the deep snow. It is 
finely made and a great curiosity, and Mrs. OrendorfF is justly 
proud of it. 



160 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The taxes paid by the people at first went to Vandalia, as 
that was then the county seat of the great county of Fayette. 
In 1831, on the Fourth of July, William Orendorfi', the father 
of James, was the auctioneer to sell the town lots of Blooming- 
ton, as on that day the little town was born. 

Mr. James K. Orendorfi' takes great interest in the peculiar 
customs of the first settlers and the devices used by them in 
their labor. Their wheat was first separated from the straw by 
tramping it out with horses. They. cleaned the wheat by throw- 
ing it in the air and allowing the wind to blow out the chaff, or 
b} 7 letting it fall from some altitude and fanning it with a sheet 
which two persons waved in the air. The settlers would use a 
hollow log or one which they gouged out with an axe, for a sugar 
trough or as a convenient receptacle for pork. Old Ephraim 
Stout was most skillful in the work of making these troughs 
and used them for wash tubs. He put legs to them to hold them 
up and fitted pins in the bottoms to empty the water. An old 
Vermonter used a tin pan scoured up brightly, as a looking 
glass. One would think that a device of such a nature would 
have been discovered by a woman. The pitchforks used by 
early settlers were made of wood, and it was many years before 
the iron-toothed forks were seen in the West. 

Mr. Orendorfi* was in the Black Hawk war and was a 
member of the company commanded by Merritt Covel. The 
company went first to Pekin, from there to Peoria and on to 
Dixon's Ferry. They had very few provisions. On their way 
to Dixon they joined the command of Major Stillman at Red 
Oak Grove. There Mr. Orendorfi" and six others lost their 
horses, but he came along on foot. When the command 
came to a high ridge, overlooking the Winnebago Swamps, they 
saw far oft' to the left down Rock River a smoke suddenly risinsr, 
which was supposed to be a signal made by the Indians of the 
coming of the whites. Major Stillman's men left their baggage 
wagons at the Winnebago Swamps, and made a forced march to 
Dixon's Ferry, where they arrived at night. The next morning 
their baggage wagons came in, and one of the soldiers (Bob 
Harbert) said, "they arrived more by good luck than good con- 
duct." They remained for several days at Dixon, until the 
"< rovernor's troops" with Governor Reynolds came up. Major 



m'lean county. 161 

Stillman's men there drew live clays' provisions and went up 
Rock River on the famous expedition which resulted in "Still- 
man's Run." When the five days' provisions were drawn, the 
baggage wagons were empty. As Mr. Orendorff had no horse 
he did not go up Rock River with his company, but took the 
empty baggage wagons back to Winnebago Swamps to meet 
Captain McClure's company, and carried orders for Captain Mc- 
Clure to turn up Rock River with his men and provisions, in 
order to supply the men under Stillman. There Mr. Orendorff 
got his horse, which had been found by John Rhodes, Owen 
Cheney, and others. It was a fine, dark, chestnut sorrel, and he 
has the same breed yet. Captain McClure's company had no 
provisions, and they came immediately on to Dixon's Ferry, 
where they arrived the evening before Stillman's defeat. The 
second morning afterwards from two o'clock until eleven Still- 
man's men came straggling in. On that day the greater part of 
the army went up to bury the dead of Stillman's Run, but 
Mr. Orendorff was sent with some others down to the rapids, 
ten or fifteen miles distant, to bring up provisions which were 
taken up that far in keel boats. Nothing further of any conse- 
cpience occurred, in which Mr. Orendorff took part, previous to 
the discharge of the men, and the re-organization of the army. 
The soldiers in the Black Hawk war were remarkable for their 
ingenuity and good management under the difficulties and hard- 
ships to which they were subjected. They mixed up their flour 
in a hollow hickory bark, put a piece of the dough on a stick 
and roasted it. They made meal soup of water, meal and gravy, 
alter frying their meat ; and they resorted to a thousand ingen- 
ious devices to prepare their food and make themselves com- 
fortable under difficulties. 

When the country was new, all lumber for building purposes 
was first hewed out with axes, but afterwards a great improve- 
ment was made when the whip saw was introduced. The log to 
be sawed was first made square, then raised high enough from 
the ground for a man to stand under it conveniently, and the 
whip saw was pulled up and down, one man standing above and 
another below. Two hundred feet of lumber could be sawed 
out in a day. 

11 



162 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The land in Illinois was surveyed in October, 1823, but the 
sale did not take place until 1829, and then the settlers had to be 
active in securing their titles. 

Game was plenty in early days. On the Okaw River Mr. 
Orendorff saw deer in droves of from fifty to three hundred, in- 
deed the number of deer in the country was astonishing. When 
the settlers came in they cultivated corn, which stood ungathered 
during the winter, and the deer fed on it and came out in the 
spring in fine condition. In addition to this the settlers made 
constant war on the wolves, gave bounties for their scalps, and 
hunted them with dogs and horses, and as these pests of the 
earth became thinned out the deer multiplied more rapidly. The 
Indians went down to the Okaw in the fall to hunt deer and re- 
turned in the spring. 

Mr. Orendorff remembers among the Indians two old squaws, 
Peggy and Nancy, who stayed in Blooming Grove during the 
winter while the tribe went down on the Okaw. Aunt Peggy 
was supposed to have been the wife of Simon Girty, the cele- 
brated white renegade. Both of these squaws were splendidly 
formed women. Aunt Nancy was fully six feet in height. 

James K. Orendorff is of rather less than the medium sta- 
ture, has small, dark, expressive eyes, is a hard worker, gets on 
well in the world, has a fine farm well stocked, and appears 
prosperous. He is a man of positive ideas, and thinks he would 
rather rely upon the honesty of the old settlers than upon the 
obligations imposed by law. He thinks a great deal of his fam- 
ily, takes pride in them and makes great exertions for their 
welfare and comfort. He married, May 4, 1837, Miss Lovina 
Sales, daughter of Elias and Sarah Sales. They have had six 
children, of whom four are living. One died in infancy. The 
children are : 

William Orendorff, born December 9, 1839, lives temporarily 
on his grandfather's place, about half a mile north of his father's 
house. 

Perry Orendorff, born July 7, 1842, lives in West township, 
section thirty-six. 

James Orendorff, born August 20, 1844, lives at home. 
Mary Francis Orendorff, born, September 21, 1847, lives at 
home. 



m'lean county. 163 

Sarah Adeline Orendorff, born January 21, 1854, died Feb- 
ruary 7, 1857. 

Oliver Hazard Perry Orendorff. 

Oliver II. P. Orendorff was born May 16, 1822, in Washington 
County, Illinois. When he was about one year old his father 
came to that part of Fayette County, which now forms the coun- 
ty of McLean, and settled at Blooming Grove. This was on the 
second of May, 1823. Mr. O. H. P. Orendorff has lived here 
ever since. The first school he attended was kept by William 
H. Hodge. Books were then scarce in the West and the one 
Oliver studied was an old fashioned almanac. He was rather a 
precocious youth and his memory goes back to an early period. 
He remembers when David Cox came to the country, which was 
in September, 1826. Mr. Orendorff went to school to Mr. Hodge, 
when it was kept about a mile distant. He was then very small, 
and at one time, when the weather was cold, he would have been 
frozen to death, had he not been dragged to the school-house by 
his sister and Maria Dawson. 

The great hurricane, which swept through Blooming Grove 
came on the nineteenth of June, 1827. Although the house, 
where the Orendorffs lived, was not in the immediate track of 
the hurricane, it blew there fearfully. While it was coming up 
even the beasts of the field understood the danger. The Oren- 
dorff boys, who were at home alone, had just driven up the 
cattle, and when the dumb creatures saw the coming storm they 
took refuge in a new and unoccupied log house. The hurricane 
unroofed the houses of William Evans' and William Walker^ 
although they were not in its immediate track. It passed through 
the timber and piled up the trees in some places twenty feet 
high. Nothing in the forest could stand before it. The trees 
were broken and twisted and torn. About nineteen days after- 
wards as Mr. William Orendorff" and some others were looking 
at the wreck of the scattered timber, they found a hog pinned 
fast to the ground by the limb of a tree and much bruised and 
unable to move. The logs were cut and it was released from 
confinement and afterwards made a fine porker. The width ot 
the hurricane was about half a mile and its length no one knows. 



164 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Its direction was almost due east. It passed through Blooming 
Grove at about twilight in the evening. 

During the winter of the deep snow Mr. Orendortf went to 
school to Cheney Thomas through the timber. After the heavy 
snow fell a road was broken and the little Orendorffs by passing 
back and forth kept the road clear. But outside of the timber 
no road remained broken longer than a few hours, as the snow 
drifted over it. The Orendortf family suffered very little during 
this winter, but many families were so distressed with the .cold 
and lack of corn that they allowed their cattle to take care 
of themselves. The corn crop during the season previous was 
very tine, but the season following was so cold and short by 
reason of the length of time required to melt away the deep 
snow, that very little corn came to maturity. The suffering 
caused by the difficulty of obtaining food was sometimes ex- 
treme. A man named Rook, who lived on Rook's Creek about 
twenty miles north of Lexington, became short of provisions, 
and it seemed that his family must starve. He made himself 
some snow shoes, took a hand sled and walked twenty miles to 
where Lexington now is, and there found corn which he took 
home to his starving family. 

Mr. Orendortf has a lively recollection of the Indians, and 
particularly of two squaws, Aunt Peggy and Aunt Nancy. 
These squaws were pretty well educated, and it is said that, while 
listening to a backwoods preacher, they amused themselves b}- 
criticising his grammatical blunders. They often came to the 
house of Mrs. Orendortf (mother of Oliver) and helped her wash 
and do her work. They were particularly pleased with children, 
and greatly admired every likely looking white papoose. They 
took a great fancy to Oliver, and wished to bring him up and 
make an Indian chief of him. 

Mrs. Orendortf died on the 9th of November, 1831, and this 
sad event affected Oliver very deeply. 

Oliver Orendortf' had a somewhat adventurous disposition. 
When he was very young he went with his brother James with 
a six horse team to St. Louis for a load of goods for Green berry 
Larison. They passed through Springfield, which was then a 
village of log huts. In 1834 he went with a party of drovers to 
White Oak Springs, near Galena, with a lot of hogs. They 



m'lean county. 165 

crossed Rock River at Dixon's Ferry, and there Mr. Orendorft" 
saw old Father Dixon, then the only white inhabitant at that 
point. At Kellogg's Grove, where during the Black Hawk war 
Colonel Dement had fought the Indians with his Spy Battalion, 
he saw the bones of horses and a human skull. Although Oli- 
ver was only twelve years of age, he was taken along with these 
drovers for something besides amusement ; it was his business to 
take care of a team. He was then a "sassy" little driver, but 
hardy and tough. He had no remarkable adventure on the way. 
He often went to Chicago, was once seventeen days on his jour- 
ney, and received only fifty cents a bushel for his wheat. Of 
course he always camped out on these expeditions. 

During the sudden change in the weather in December, 
1836, Oliver OrendorfF was at school. The ground was covered 
with slush and water, and young Benjamin Cox made a wish 
that the weather would turn cold, and freeze over the creek. It 
did turn cold, so cold that many of the scholars could not go 
home ; the little Orendorffs were "weather-bound," and staid over 
night at William Michael's. The following morning Oliver went 
home on horseback, and while crossing a creek his horse broke 
throuo;h the ice at a riffle and at the same time went under a low 
hanging limb of a tree which brushed Oliver from the horse's 
back. Unfortunately he «;ot his boot full of water, but he mount- 
ed his horse and rode home, a half a mile distant, on the 
keen run. When he arrived there his boot was frozen fast to 
his foot, and he had great difficulty in pulling it off. 

During the famous wet season of 1844, Mr. OrendorfT moved 
the goods and stock of an aunt of his to Iowa. He started on 
the 9th of May, walked the whole distance and with his cousin 
drove twenty head of cattle. They waded and swam the sloughs 
and creeks, and crossed the Illinois River by wading, ferrying 
ami swimming. The horses attached to their wagon went 
tli rough with much kicking, and scratching, but came out safe 
at last. He returned home by the fourth of June, and says that 
daring all the time he was gone his clothes were never once en- 
tirely dry. He helped his uncle plant corn before he started, 
and on his return helped his father plant corn, as the ground had 
been difficult to plow on account of the wet. 

The first camp-meeting Mr. Orendorft"" ever attended was held 



166 OLD SETTLERS OF 

on the place where he now lives. The Rev. Peter Cartwright 
Avas present, and preached in his most interesting and humorous 
style. 

Mr. Orendorff married, April 1, 1847, Sarah Levina Hendrix, 
the daughter of John and Jane Hendrix, the first settlers within 
the limits of the present McLean County. The marriage was 
celebrated at the home of Mrs. Jane Hendrix, near where Mr. 
Orendorff now lives. They have had two children, one daugh- 
ter and one son, both of whom are now living. They are : 

Mrs. Mary Jane Cox, wife of William M. Cox, lives near 
the line between Bloomington and Randolph townships. 

George Perry Orendorff lives at the homestead with his 
father. 

Mr. Orendorff is five feet and ten and one-half inches high, 
is not heavily built, seems to enjoy a fair degree of health, and 
appears pretty muscular and well developed. He is very posi- 
tive in his opinions, is a man of good sense, is very kind and 
sociable and ready to do a favor, thinks a great deal of old 
times and the old settlers, and is himself one of the best of 
them. He works hard, is careful and thrifty, and is blessed 
with a fair portion of the world's goods. 

It will be seen from the sketches in this book that, the Oren- 
dorff family has certain characteristics which are common to all 
of its members. They are all of them blessed with social and 
pleasant dispositions, and they all of them have that kindness of 
heart and genuine good feeling for which the early settlers were 
so distinguished. 

Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes. 

The information necessary to write the following sketch of 
Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes was furnished by Mrs. Jeremiah Rhodes, 
his daughter-in-law. Reverend Ebenezer Rhodes was born in 
1780 in Holland. He has often said that when he was very 
young the people were obliged to go in boats to milk their cows. 
Mr. Rhodes was, even when a boy, very tender-hearted. Atone 
time a widow lady came to his father's house and asked for a 
little corn. But provisions were scarce then, and the old gentle- 
man was afraid of a famine, and refused. But when voting 



m'lean county. 167 

Ebenezer and his brother learned of the circumstance they took 
a bushel and a half of the old gentleman's corn to her, a dis- 
tance of about four miles. The Rhodes family came to America 
when Ebenezer was very young, so that he was enabled to learn 
a few of the pranks to which the American youths were addicted. 
His father was very particular about the watermelon patch, but 
Ebenezer sometimes " lifted" it. 

"When he was about nineteen years of age he married Mrs. 
Mary Starr, a widow, who lived in Maryland. In about the 
year 1808 he moved to Champaign County, Ohio, near the pres- 
ent town of Urbana, on Derby Creek. While near there in 
1806 the neighborhood was alarmed by threats of an Indian 
massacre, and the Rhodes family rode forty miles in one day to 
escape. But it proved a false alarm, caused by an Indian dance. 
In 1807 Mr. Rhodes moved to Buck Creek, six or seven miles 
distant. In about the year 1819 or '20 he was ordained as a 
preacher. In October, 1823, he came to Sangamon County, Illi- 
nois, and in April following he came to McLean County. As 
soon as three or four families could be collected together, Mr. 
Rhodes began preaching. He preached without receiving any 
salary or any hope or thought of reward. He belonged first to 
the Separate Baptists, but afterwards united with the Christian 
church. He and the Rev. Mr. Latta, a Methodist minister, often 
traveled together and frequently preached at the same place. 
Mr. Rhodes preached at Hittle's Grove, Cheney's Grove, Sugar 
Grove, Long Point, Big Grove, Twin Grove, Dry Grove, the 
head of the Mackinaw and other places. He was the first 
preacher in McLean County and for a long time the only one. 
He organized the first church within the bounds of the present 
McLean County at his house at Blooming Grove, and everybody 
in the county met there to celebrate the occasion. This was in 
1829. No building for public worship had then been put up, 
but people met everywhere in private houses. While not en- 
gaged in preaching Mr. Rhodes made chairs and reels and wheels 
for spinning flax, cotton and wool. 

In February, 1840, Mr. Rhodes met with an accident which 
made him an invalid the remainder of his days. While cutting 
a tree in the timber it fell on him breaking one of his thighs 
and mashing the knee of the other leg. He was obliged always 



168 OLD SETTLERS OF 

afterwards to go on crutches and lived only two years more. 
He died of consumption which was probably brought on by the 
accident in the timber. 

In 1832 Mr. Rhodes and his son Samuel built a saw mill on 
Sugar Creek which they ran by water for two years. They made 
the mill, dug the race and ran it together. But young Aaron 
Rhodes was drowned there while swimming in the pond, and 
this sad event so disheartened the old gentleman that he tore 
down his mill shortly afterwards and sold his saw and the iron- 
work with it. 

There were in the Rhodes family six boys and three girls, 
and of these four boys and one girl are now living. They are : 

John PI. S. Rhodes lives about two miles southeast of Bloom- 
ington on the Leroy road. 

Samuel Rhodes lives in Iowa, near Winterset. 

Mrs. Naomi ISTigest, wife of Samuel Nigest, lives in Jones 
County, Iowa. 

Jeremiah Rhodes lives three miles southeast of Bloomington 
on the Leroy road. 

Rev. James Rhodes lives at Des Moines, Iowa. 

Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes was about six feet in height, had a 
Roman nose, weighed one hundred and seventy-five pounds, had 
a long, narrow face and was very stoop-shouldered. He was an 
earnest preacher and an active wide-awake man. He read the 
Scriptures carefully and was well versed in biblical lore. 

Joiin H. S. Rhodes. 

John H. S. Rhodes was born October 16, 1796, on George's 
Creek in Maryland. His father, Ebenezer Rhodes, and his 
mother, Mary Starr, were of English and German descent. 
When he was three years of age he moved to Pennsjdvania with 
his father's family, and at the age of nine years he came to Ohio. 
Here he grew up to manhood, and in course of time was mar- 
ried, as would naturally be expected. In 1823 all of the Rhodes 
family came to Illinois. During the first winter of their arrival 
they stayed in Sangamon County, and in April, 1824, came to 
Blooming Grove, then called Keg Grove. There are two ex- 
planations of the change of name to Blooming Grove; one is 
that its latter name was suggested by Mrs. William Orendorff, 



m'lean county. 169 

and the other is that it was agreed to by Thomas Orendorff and 
John Rhodes. It is very probable that both of these ex- 
planations are correct, and indeed the evidence in favor of either 
cannot be disputed. Mr. Rhodes says that while he and Thomas 
Orendorff were writing letters they asked each other what they 
should call the place, and Mr. Orendorff, glancing at the maple 
trees, which were in full bloom, said : "It looks blooming here, 
I think we will call it Blooming Grove." It has kept the name 
ever since. Mr. Rhodes was very poor when he came to Bloom- 
ing Grove, indeed his worldly possessions consisted at that time 
of almost nothing at all. The winter after he came to the Grove 
he went to Sangamon County and husked corn for Hardy Coun- 
cil and his brother-in-law, McClellan. He received his wages 
in corn, and was allowed two and a half bushels per day for 
himself and team. He husked corn until his wages amounted 
to a load and then started home. When he arrived at Elkhart 
Grove he ground his corn at the little horse mill belonging to 
Judge Latham, the Indian agent. He crossed Salt Creek and 
the Kickapoo during the following day. As the Kickapoo was 
high he took his load across in a canoe, took his wagon across in 
pieces, and swam his horses over. It was very cold and they 
were covered with a coating of ice. After going three miles he 
stopped over night at the house of a man named Lantrus, and 
the following morning started at day-break for home. After 
going about five miles he was obliged to walk on account of the 
cold; but after a few miles walking he found that the bottoms 
of his moccasins were worn off and his bare feet were pressing 
the snow, for in the meantime a severe snow storm had set in 
from the northwest. When he had gone half way home it 
seemed that he must freeze to death. Then he thought of his 
wife and children, who would starve for the want of the corn in 
his wagon ; and the strong man began to cry. But the thought 
of his family nerved him, and he hung on to the wagon, and his 
horses walked home. It was after night when he arrived, and 
found his feet frozen to his ankles. He immediately put them 
in a tub of water, while his wife took care of the horses. For 
weeks afterwards his feet were all drawn up and he felt in them 
a burning sensation as if a hot iron had passed over them. 



170 OLD SETTLERS OF 

While he had been gone every one at home had been indus- 
trious; even the dogs had done their duty and killed fourteen 
wolves. 

Mr. Rhodes has had many adventures while hunting. A few 
years after he came to Blooming Grove, he went on a hunt to 
Old Town timber. There he slept one night in a hollow log, 
and the next morning started a buck, and shot it a little too far 
back to kill it. After following the buck some distance, he 
saw it standing and tossing his head up and down as if in dis- 
tress. Mr. Rhodes shot at the head, as the buck was not standing 
sideways to him, and down it came. The hunter incautiously 
ran up and struck the deer in the forehead with a tomahawk ; 
but the deer sprang up and pitched Mr. Rhodes on the ground, 
and attempted to gore him with its horns. Mr. Rhodes grasped 
the antlers, and they struck in his stomach. The buck tried to 
draw back to come with force on the prostrate hunter, but Mr. 
Rhodes held it fast. Then it lifted Mr. Rhodes up on its antlers 
and tried to pitch him over its head, but the hunter's shoulder 
struck on the neck of the deer. Then the buck thrashed him 
around for nearly three-quarters of an hour and made a noise 
like the bellowing of a bull. But at last it tired of the contest 
and stopped to blow, with its tongue hanging out of its mouth. 
The second time he stopped to blow, Mr. Rhodes grasped Ins 
butcher knife and quickly cut the cords behiiid the deer's fore 
leg, and the next time the buck made a lunge it came down on 
one knee. Then Mr. Rhodes, with another stroke cut the cords 
of the remaining fore leg, and the buck fell, and the hunter 
rolled off of the horns. He was so badly bruised that he ex- 
pected to die immediately, and was for a while in great pain ; 
but he recovered himself soon after and killed his deer. After 
this contest he never approached his game without a loaded gun. 
The buck was one of great size, and when dressed his meat 
weighed nearly two hundred pounds. 

Mr. Rhodes' experience with the Indians has usually been 
pleasant. He found them to be like their white brethren in 
many things; some were honest and some were dishonest. There 
were large numbers of Kiekapoos when he first came, and after- 
wards a few hundred Delawares made their appearance, and 
stayed until the commencement of the Black Hawk troubles. 



m'lban county. 171 

The. Indians were usually very playful and loved fun and prac- 
tical jokes. The old chief Machina was a very cunning Indian 
and had some strange peculiarities. He always denied selling 
the country to the whites. John Rhodes told him that he did 
sell the country to the whites, and that Boss Stony (the Presi- 
dent) had it on paper. Machina replied : "D — n quick putting 
black upon white." 

When what was called the Winnebago war was threatened. 
John Rhodes called out the company of men of which he was 
captain and responded to the call made by the Governor for 
troops ; but the matter was soon settled and the troops never 
took the field. 

During the Black Hawk war, which occurred a few years 
afterwards in 1832, Major McClure and Captain Rhodes called 
out a company, of which McClure was chosen captain and 
Rhodes first lieutenant. They marched to Dixon where they 
arrived the evening before the fight at Stillman's Run. After 
the fight they moved with the rest of the army up to the battle- 
ground and helped to bury the dead. From there his company 
went to Indian Creek where the families of Davis, Hall and 
Pettigrew were massacred. These they buried and John Rhodes 
himself carried out their bodies. It seems that these people had 
been told of the coming of the Indians ; but Davis, who was a 
blacksmith and a man of great strength and courage, refused to 
heed the warning. When the Indians came they found him at 
a building at work and the families in the house. The families 
were massacred almost without resistance, but Davis had his 
gun with him and fought with desperation. He was found 
covered with a hundred wounds and his gun was bent and twist- 
ed in every direction. Shortly after the burial of these families 
the troops were discharged, and the army was re-organized, and 
John Rhodes and the most of his company came home. 

In early days great attention was paid to military drill. At 
first a company was organized under the militia law of the State, 
and Mr. Rhodes was chosen captain ; but afterwards the country 
became so well settled that the company grew to a regiment, of 
which Merritt Covel was chosen colonel, Robert McClure was 
made major and A. Gridley, adjutant. The regiment was obliged 
to drill five times a year, and whoever failed to come to training 



172 OLD SETTLERS OF 

was court-martialed. On these occasions the colonel presided 
and in his absence the eldest captain, which Avas John Rhodes. 

Mr. Rhodes takes great pleasure in calling to mind the 
scenes of the early settlement. lie helped to build the first mill 
on his father's place in 1825, with the grinding stones of nigger- 
heads. He has been a great hunter and often killed deer and 
wolves where the court house stands. While bringing up a lot 
of hogs from Sangamon County, he was followed by a wild boar. 
He shot the animal twice without killing it, when it attacked 
him and he was obliged to climb a cherry tree to escape. The 
wild hogs had once been tame, but had lost all the qualities of 
domestic animals, and were as wild as. if their swinish ancestors 
had never known a pig-pen. 

Mr. Rhodes was a natural hunter, and a sharp marksman 
and never felt the cold tremors or " buck ague " come over him 
when about to shoot. He was a man of steady nerve, and when 
his finger pressed the trigger the gun was covering the game. 
In his early youth he was a hunter. At one time while living 
in Ohio, and only seventeen or eighteen years of age, he was 
called to help kill a bear, which had been found not far away. 
The dogs drove the bear into a swamp and brought him to bay, 
and when Mr. Rhodes came up, the animal climbed a tree, the 
dogs hanging to him until he was ten feet high. The bear's 
jaw was broken by a shot and he came down when the dogs 
pitched into him. Mr. Rhodes joined in the melee, and struck 
the bear in the forehead with a tomahawk. The weapon stuck 
fast and the bear raked Rhodes' arm from the shoulder down. 
He succeeded in loosening it and struck again, when it again 
stuck fast, and he received another rake from the shoulder 
down. Then a hunter, who was looking on, called out : "John, 
a little lower," and Mr. Rhodes struck the bear just above the 
eyes, which killed it. 

Unlike most hunters, Mr. Rhodes has acquired a great deal of 
property. He has purchased in all about two thousand acres of 
land and has five hundred acres under his own management. 

John Rhodes is fully six feet in height and was formerly very 
straight and muscular. Although he is now far advanced in 
years, his eyes have a bright, expressive look when he is inter- 
ested in anything. He is a good business man, and has as much 



m'lean county. 17-'i 

confidence in his ability to manage his financial affairs as in his 
ability to kill a deer or run a wolf. He appears younger than 
he is, and seems to be in the full possession of all his faculties. 
It would appear that he has many years yet to live, and his 
great vitality would even now bear him up under many hard- 
ships. 

John Rhodes has been married three times, and has had thir- 
teen children, seven of whom are living. He first married Mary 
Johnson, who died December 15, 1845. Five children of this 
marriage are living. They are : 

Cynthia Ann, wife of Benjamin Turnipseed, born July 28, 
1819, lives at the head of the Mackinaw. 

Caroline Bellew, wife of William Bellew, was born February 
6, 1823, and lives at the head of the Mackinaw. 

William J. Rhodes, born February 16, 1825, lives a mile east 
of his father's. 

Emily Brewster, wife of John Brewster, was born June 21, 
1827, and lives one mile south of her father's. 

Aaron Pain Rhodes was born April 28, 1888, and lives one 
and a half miles southeast of his father's, on the Leroy road. 

John Rhodes married the second time to Mrs. Mary Ann 
Tazel, a widow, and by this marriage has two living children. 
They are : 

Samuel M. Rhodes, born September 16, 1850, and Cinderella 
Rhodes, born August 15, 1852, live at home. 

John Rhodes married, the last time, Mrs. Maria Ensminger, 
a widow, on the 13th of March, 1868. They appear to take the 
world comfortably. Mrs. Rhodes is a wide awake lady. She 
takes a great deal of interest in. the history of other days, and 
is one of the most agreeable of women. 

Jeremiah Rhodes. 

Jeremiah Rhodes, son of Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes, was born 
February 11, 1806, in Champaign County, Ohio. There he re- 
ceived his common school education until he was eighteen 
years of age. School began there at eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing and was kept eight hours during the day. He remembers 
the war of 1812 very clearly, though he was then very young. 
His father was a corporal in the army during that exciting con- 



174 OLD SETTLERS OF 

test. Iii the fall of 1823 the Rhodes family came to Illinois, to 
Sangamon County. They had no very exciting adventures on 
their journey, but when they arrived at their destination at 
Blooming Grove matters became interesting enough. The In- 
dians came for them and ordered them away from the country. 
Mr. Rhodes, sen., was out in the woods making rails, when a 
party of Indians came to his house and sent one of their number 
to bring him in. Old Machina, the chief, then told Mr. Rhodes 
not to make corn there, but to go back to the other side of the 
Sangamon River. The chief declared he had never signed any 
treaty ceding the land to the whites, and that white men should 
not settle there. The facts relating to the treaty were, that Old 
Machina was sick at the time, but sent his son to treat with the 
whites, and the son signed the articles. When the Indian agent 
told Machina of this he acknowledged its truth, but said: "My 
heart did not go with it." Old Machina threatened to burn the 
houses of the settlers, but at last allowed Mr. Rhodes' family to 
remain until fall to gather their crops. Mr. Rhodes' recollection 
of the Indians is pretty clear. He remembers one time when 
the whole tribe of the Kickapoos went on a spree or drunken 
dance. They used up twenty gallons of whisky, and invited in 
their Pottawotamie friends. On this grand occasion one of the 
Indians showed that he had learned a beautiful lesson from civ- 
ilization, for while drunk he beat his wife over the head with a 
whisky bottle. At the great dance, about six or eight Indians 
formed in twos and jumped around flat-footed, with tinkling 
bells attached to their ankles. Old Machina had a gourd with 
stones in it, and these he shook up and down to keep time. An- 
other musical instrument was formed from a ten gallon keg with 
a deer skin drawn tightly over one end. This was carried on 
the back of a half-grown papoose, and was beaten with a stick. 
The dancers had their bodies painted black, but over their breasts 
was painted in white a pair of hands and arms crossed. Outside 
of the circle of dancers an Indian held up a stick cut in the 
shape of a gun. The stick was pointed upwards, and was sup- 
posed to be an emblem of peace. Another Indian held up a 
tomahawk, with his hand close to the blade, but what this meant 
is not easy to be seen. The Indians received a little assistance 
in their performance by old John Dawson, who danced and sang 



M'LEAN COtfNTY. 175 

with them. They wore willing to allow his dancing, but stopped 
his Binging, as it spoiled the exquisite music of the gourd full of 
rocks and the keg. The Indians kept time by repeating monot- 
onously the words: "Hu way," "hu way," &e., and the squaws, 
who were gathered in a circle around the dancers, looked on 
admiringly. 

The Indians were very superstitious, and their ideas some- 
times took queer shapes. At one time a squaw died from some 
sickness, which brought on the lockjaw, and as she was drawing 
her last breath an Indian went out and fired his gun in the air to 
send her spirit up to heaven. The Indians believed in witch- 
craft. An old squaw was once accused of bewitching a child, 
which was sick, and it was said that she held communication 
with an Indian at Fort George, four hundred miles distant, and 
that they flew to each other as fast as a chicken, and held con- 
sultation as to how many people they were able to kill. 

The Indians were very revengeful, and their quarrels nearly 
always resulted fatally. They sometimes practiced the duello to 
settle their difficulties. Mr. Rhodes remembers two Indians who 
fought a duel on the banks of the Illinois River. One of them 
was a Kickapoo and the other a Pottawotamie. One fought with 
a tomahawk and the other with a butcher knife ; the one with 
the butcher knife was successful. 

The Indians wished very much to prevent the settlement of 
the country by frightening off the whites, and succeeded in scar- 
ing away three families, who had settled on the Mackinaw, by 
firing guns and brandishing butcher knives. They threatened 
to kill Mrs. Benson's cattle and pigs if she went to her husband 
who lived at Blooming Grove, thirty miles away. But the brave 
woman replied to the threat by holding up one of her children 
and saying : "And my papooses too ?" "No," replied the chief, 
Machina, "I would go to damnation if I should do that." 

The Indians traded with the settlers giving them beeswax 
and moccasins in return for corn. In the fall of the year when 
they made preparations to move into winter quarters, they fre- 
quently buried their corn to keep it during the winter. 

The Indians had occasionally some curiosity to hear the 
preaching of the gospel, and to learn something of the God of 
the white man. At one time the Ivickapoos went so far as to 



176 OLD SETTLERS OF 

hold a meeting, and have an interpreter to tell them what the 
preacher said. 

Among the various devices for grinding wheat and corn was 
the mill with grinding stones cut from nigger heads on the prai- 
rie. After the wheat was ground, the flour was separated from 
the bran by sifting in a box with a bottom of two cloths, through 
which the flour passed. Mr. Rhodes' father built one of these 
mills, which served the neighborhood for three years. The 
nearest mill besides this one was forty-five miles distant. It is 
not easy for us to appreciate the difficulties, which sprang from 
the absence of the common conveniences of life. The settlers 
were obliged to go to the Sangamon River to get their plough 
irons sharpened, a distance of fifty miles. 

The old settlers being liable to all the ills that flesh is heir to 
occasionally stood in need of the attentions of the doctor or the 
surgeon. They could get along very well so far as the doctor 
was concerned, but the surgeon's skill was not easily obtained." 
Mr. Rhodes' younger brother was so unfortunate as to break his 
leg, and old John Dawson attended him and set the limb. The 
patient recovered, but his leg was always crooked. 

The West was formerly subject to occasional whirlwinds 
and hurricanes, but it does not seem to have been visited by 
them of late years. A terrible hurricane passed through Bloom- 
ing Grove and tore down many forest trees. Still another passed 
through in 1859, and was strong enough to pick up a mule out 
of a pasture and carry it over two fences. 

The Rhodes family tell some curious things of the memora- 
ble change in the weather, which occurred in December, 183G. 
After being warm and rainy it turned so suddenly cold that the 
geese and chickens froze fast in the slush of snow and water. 
When they became frozen fast, they squalled as they always do 
when caught. Mrs. Rhodes thawed them out with warm water. 
Some of the chickens had their bills frozen full of ice. When 
the sudden change took place and the wind came, the cattle ran 
bawling for the timber and were not seen again for three days. 
Mr. Rhodes has been a thrifty farmer, but his trade was that 
of a chairmaker. He built the substantial dwelling where he 
now lives, with the assistance of his eldest son. 



m'lban county. . 177 

Mr. Rhodes now (eels the effects of age, though he enjoys a 
fair degree of health. He is about five feet and eleven inches 
in height. His hair was once dark, but is now sprinkled with 
gray. His eyes are dark, but have a mild, honest expression, 
and he is a kind-hearted, pleasant old gentleman. 

Mr. Rhodes was married March 26, 1835, to Mathurza John- 
son. He has raised ten children, five boys and five girls, and 
of these nine are living. 

William Heeron Hodge. 

In writing this work the author has had some difficulty in 
getting such items as he wished ; but whenever he made any in- 
quiry he was always directed" to Mr. Hodge." "Hodge knows 
all about it. He remembers everything/' If the writer asked 
information of any one concerning the Indians, the reply was : 
"Oh, ask Hodge, he knows as much about them as if he was an 
Indian himself." This reputation which Mr. Hodge has ac- 
quired for knowledge of the early history of the country has 
been fully sustained, and many of the most interesting facts and 
incidents related in this work have been furnished by him. 

William Herron Hodge was born January 4, 1794, on a farm 
near the town of Windworth, the county seat of Rockingham 
County, North Carolina. His father, Francis Hodge, came from 
English stock, and his mother, whose maiden name was Nancy 
Walker, was of Scotch-Irish descent. His ancestors came from 
England and settled in Pennsylvania, about the year 1700, and 
moved from there to North Carolina. From here, his father, Fran- 
cis Hodge, came to Tennessee in the year 1812. Young William 
received some slight education in North Carolina, but he after- 
wards took the matter in hand himself and became well enough 
advanced in his eighteenth year to teach school. He taught 
school in Tennessee and Kentucky, obtaining his scholars by 
the subscription system. 

In 1820 he started for Illinois, where he arrived on the twen- 
tieth of February of that year. He settled first in Sangamon 
County, which he helped to organize. In 1824 he moved to 
Blooming Grove. Here he bought land quite extensively. At 
this time there were but twelve families in Blooming Grove and 
three at Randolph Grove. When the country was divided into 
12 



178 OLD SETTLERS OF 

counties, Vandalia became the county seat, one hundred and 
four miles south of the present city of Bloomington. But as 
the State grew in population, these enormous counties were sub- 
divided. Tazewell County was organized in 1827. Mr. Hodge 
assisted in its organization. McLean County was not organized 
until 1881, and in this organization Mr. Hodge also assisted. 
At that time he lived in a house situated in three counties. It 
was section ten, town twenty-three, range two east of the third 
principal meridian. Only four men are now living who were 
settlers in McLean County when it was organized in 1831. 
These are John H. S. Rhodes, Thomas Orendorff*, John Ben- 
son and William II. Hodge, whose sketch we are writing. 

The settlers first took their produce to the Illinois River, 
where it was shipped to St. Louis and New Orleans. Mr. Hodge 
saw the first shanty built in Pekin, on the Illinois River, in 1825. 
It was put up by three citizens of Blooming Grove, namely, 
John Hendrix, James Latta and a man named Egman. 

Mr. Hodge is particularly eloquent over the growth of Chi- 
cago. He says that when he first saw it in 1834, it contained 
about fifty families, and was scarcely a fij- speck compared with 
the great metropolis of to-day. The people of Chicago were al- 
ways hopeful and sanguine of the coming greatness of their 
city, but it is doubtful whether any imagination has ever exceed- 
ed the reality. Ford, in his historj' of Illinois, reproves those 
who in early days had great expectations of Chicago, and said, 
while speaking of a certain man : " Politicians estimate the 
value of such a man as the speculators estimated the value of 
Chicago lots in 1836. Chicago was then a village, but it was 
believed that it would soon be a city, which made lots sell for 
more than they are worth, now that it has become a city of fif- 
teen thousand inhabitants !•" This was written in 1846 or '47. 

Mr. Hodge remembers many interesting items about the 
weather ; indeed, he is a perfect weathercock. He remembers 
particularly the circumstances of the deep enow which came in 
the winter of 1830 and '31. During that terrible winter the 
first great snow-fall, on the twenty-ninth of December, covered 
the ground three feet deep with snow, and from that time until 
the thirteenth of February it snowed nineteen times. When the 
snow began to fall on the twenty-ninth of December, Mr. Hodge 



m'lean county. 179 

was fifty miles away from home, and it took him three days to 
return. The snow stopped nearly all communication between 
the settlers living at different groves, and people did not attempt 
to travel except in the most urgent cases. During this winter 
people suffered severely from want of food, and every old settler 
tells how he pounded corn in a pestle, or ground it in a coffee 
mill and made it into hominy. Mr. Hodge speaks of a man 
named Rock, who walked sixteen miles on the snow to get a 
bushel and a half of corn, and carried the precious burden home 
on a hand sled. The winter was very severe for all animals, 
both wild and domestic. The cattle bore the severity of the 
weather better than the hogs, the latter in many instances freez- 
ing to death. Many deer and other wild animals died of cold 
and starvation. They were easily caught but were very poor. 
Mr. Itowen, of Old Town, managed the matter well ; he caught 
several deer and penned them up and fattened them on corn. 

The season following the winter of the deep snow was a very 
late one, and frost came every month in the year. The crops 
were poor, as may well be supposed, and the corn did not ripen. 

In June, 1826, four years before the year of the deep snow, 
the terrible wind storm occurred which passed through the 
south end of Blooming Grove eastward to Old Town. This 
terrible tornado swept down everything in its way ; the trees 
were twisted off', and everything was leveled with the ground. 
At this time Mr. William Evans, of whose life we have written 
a sketch, had a crop of several acres of corn in Old Town. The 
hurricane passed over it and it was gone. But the old settlers 
were friends in need. Mr. Orendorff, whose place at Blooming 
Grove Mr. Evans had rented, gave the latter a patch of from 
five to seven acres of corn, so that, notwithstanding his misfor- 
tune, Mr. Evans was again encouraged. 

All the old settlers remember the sudden change in the 
weather which occurred on the fourteenth of December, 1830, 
when the weather had been ver} 7 moderate, and suddenly be- 
came so cold that many animals were frozen to death. Mr. 
Hodge says that the longest winter was that of 1842 and '43, 
when cold winter weather set in on the fourth of November, and 
lasted until the following April. 



180 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Hodge was sheriff, collector and assessor of Tazewell 
County from 1827 to 1831, which makes him a pretty old office- 
holder. At that time and until 1838, the sheriff was obliged to 
collect the taxes. 

Mr. Hodge married in the year 1814, and was blessed with a 
fine family of eight children, seven of whom are now living. 

Mr. Hodge is a man of medium height. His eyes are keen 
and penetrating, and his appearance would indicate that in his 
younger days he must have been a good man of business. He 
is sharp enough yet, and a person must rise early in the morn- 
ing to take him in. While walking he uses a cane, as his right 
foot is crippled in consequence of a white swelling. His mem- 
ory is still very good — remarkably good for his age. His hair 
is white and his head is a little bald. He is a man of very agree- 
able and pleasant humor. Taken altogether he is a fine exam- 
ple of the honest, jolly, hard-working, humorous old settlers. 

"We are sure the reader will be glad to see the following from 
the pen of Mr. "Hodge himself, as it tells the condition of things 
in early days, and also gives some idea of the character of Mr. 
Hodge : 

" I came to Blooming Grove in 1821, and found sixteen fam- 
ilies within the present bounds of McLean County, all of us be- 
ing in very straightened circumstances as to money or property, 
and far from market and very little to sell. Springfield, the near- 
est place of business, was composed of about twenty what we 
now call shanties. The place was chosen as the temporary seat 
of justice of Sangamon County in 1821. I voted at the organi- 
zation of that county at the first election, which was held in 
February, 1821. I came to Sangamon County in February, 
1820. During that year the first census of Illinois was taken, 
and the population numbered sixty-five thousand. When the 
first settlers came to the wilderness they all supposed that their 
hard struggle would be principally over after the first year; but 
alas ! we looked for ' easier times next year ' for about ten 
years, and learned to bear hardships, privations and hard living 
as good soldiers* do. As the facilities for making money were 
not great we lived pretty well satisfied in an atmosphere of good, 
social, friendly feeling, and thought ourselves as good as those 
we left behind when we emigrated to the "West. After a while 



m'lean county. 181 

they began to come after us to teach us the way more perfectly, 
and we took such lessons as were most congenial to our views. 
I might here give an account of the cold winters we had to live 
through in open cabins, and the big snow of 1830 and '31 ; but 
these are past, and have been narrated so often that they are cer- 
tainly worn stale and not entertaining. All who have helped to 
subdue the wilderness in any of the Western States and are yet 
living know that it is hard work, with great suffering and hard 
living, without church or school privileges, and to those who 
have not tried it let me say there are more wildernesses to settle, 
and if you wish to know what a pioneer's life is, put out and 
try it, if you think you have the pluck to stand it, for I assure 
you it takes a pretty good soldier to do so. 

" There are yet living four of the sixteen men who first set- 
tled in this country, viz. : John Benson, aged ninety-five, John 
H. S. Rhodes, aged seventy-eight, Thomas Orendorff, aged sev- 
enty-one, and your humble servant, aged eighty-one. The two 
Mr. Funks (Absalom and Isaac), who were both single men, and 
Samual Rhodes, were not counted among the sixteen pioneers 
of 1824. The ministers of the Gospel of the Savior of the 
world hunted us up and preached to what few there were; there- 
fore, we did not degenerate and turn heathen, as any communi- 
ty will where the sound of the gospel is never heard. I shall 
not give their names, though sacred in memory, for they were 
not after the fleece, but after the flock, because they had but 
little to say about science and philosophy, but spoke of purer 
things. I claim no honors for being an emigrant pioneer, for 
I came to bear the turmoil of the new country to better my own 
condition, and what little I have done toward advancing the 
public interest has been done freely. I do not wish to write 
my autobiography, for my life has been a checkered scene, 
with probably more to condemn than applaud, still I am will- 
ing to have my deeds brought to the light and reproved. My 
reason for writing these few lines is this: I have frequently 
been called upon to give some account of pioneer life, the 
seasons, the cold winters, and the storms of snow with which 
the early settlers had to contend, and give dates, and when I 
have tried to do this I have seen my statements come forth 



182 OLD SETTLERS OF 

in public print, garbled and incorrect, so I thought I would 
write a few lines myself, but hereafter I must beg to be excused 
from writing any more. W. H. Hodge." 

AVilltam Richard Goodheart. 

William Richard Goodheart was born December 1, 1780, 
near Edinburg, Scotland. Here his father farmed some land, 
and here William received his limited education. When he 
was about fourteen years of age the family emigrated to Hol- 
land. On their arrival there Mr. Goodheart was bound out to 
learn the stone mason's trade. But he had "no affection for his 
master, and soon ran away with one of his companions, and took 
service on board of a merchant vessel. This vessel was shortly 
afterwards captured by the French, and William Goodheart 
served in the French navy. AVhile he was in the navy the 
French became engaged in a war with England, and the French 
fleet was ordered to attack the English, after a consultation of 
the officers. On board of the man-of-war, on which Mr. Good- 
heart was serving, was an Englishman, who was captain of the 
forecastle. This Englishman did not wish to fight against his 
own country, and rather than do so he hung himself. Mr. 
Goodheart was not so sensitive, as he was a Scotchman, and the 
Scotch had not then much affection for England. He was se- 
lected to fill the place of the Englishman. He was in the ser- 
vice of the French for about seven years, partly on sea and part- 
ly on on land. He belonged to the cavalry, and was for several 
years with Napoleon in Italy. He rode a fine horse, of which 
he was very fond. At one time he had very little provision for 
himself or fodder for his horse. All he had was one pound of 
bread, but gave this to his horse and endured hunger himself. 
He was obliged at last to kill his horse while crossing a muddy 
stream, as the animal became mired down, and was likely to fall 
into the hands of the enemy. He was with Napoleon on the 
Russian campaign, and saw the destruction of Moscow. 

After leaving the French service Mr. Goodheart went to 
England and entered into the English service against the United 
States during the war of 1812. He was taken prisoner in the 
naval conflict on Lake Erie, when Commodore Perry gained his 
great victory. A friend, while speaking of this, says : " In re- 



yw'LEAN COUNTY. 183 

lating to me the incidents of that terrific battle he told me the 
following anecdote : Three Indians, who had enlisted in the 
British service, were placed under Goodheart's command over 
one of the guns on the ship. During the heat of battle Good- 
heart was called below to receive some order, and before he 
could return, that part of the ship was shot away, and he 
thought the poor savages had perished. But after the battle 
closed he was surprised to see them coming out of the coal hole, 
where the rascals had fied as soon as their captain had momen- 
tarily left the gun. Many years after this, when Mr. Goodheart 
had moved to Blooming Grove, he saw a company of Indians, 
and one of them, advancing in front, called him captain, and 
said he was one of the Indians who had served under Goodheart 
on board of the man-of-war on Lake Erie." Mr. Goodheart 
was taken prisoner in this battle, and was landed on the coast of 
Pennsylvania. But he did not w T ish to be exchanged and go 
back to the British service, and he with two others escaped dur- 
ing the first night after they were brought to land. They 
walked all night into the interior of the country, as they 
thought, but when morning broke were surprised at beholding 
their own ship. They concealed themselves in a hay stack until 
night, and started again into the interior. After a hard travel 
they arrived at Lancaster, Pa. While there a great many troops 
came to a muster, and among them was a bully who conceived a 
particular aversion to Goodheart, and would not rest content 
until they tried their muscle. Mr. Goodheart wished to avoid a 
personal encounter, but it was forced upon him, and he had no 
choice in the matter. He was a man of great strength, and de- 
fended himself successfully. He enlisted in the American army 
and fought under General Harrison. 

On the 2d of August, 1814, Mr. Goodheart married Sarah 
Ann Clouse, at Franklin, Ohio. He made a claim there, and in 
order to pay for it, made a trip to New Orleans on a Hatboat. 
He was gone six months, was very sick a part of the time, and 
from his prolonged absence, his wife despaired of ever seeing 
him again. In 1819 Mr. Goodheart had his leg broken by the 
falling of a tree. During the illness wdiich followed he medi- 
tated on religious matters. He was converted to the cause of 
Christ at a camp-meeting, under the preaching of Elder Wright. 



184 OLD SETTLERS OF # 

About that time he sold his home and prepared to come West, 
but his wife refused her consent for several years. During the 
fall of 1824 Mr. Goodheart and his wife and six children started 
for the West and arrived at Mackinawtown, in what was then 
Fayette County, Illinois. He was warmly welcomed by the set- 
tlers, who built him a cabin and did everything in their power 
to assist him. He left his wife and children and made a visit to 
Blooming Grove. The Indians annoyed his family somewhat 
during his absence. On his return he put his things into the 
wagon to go again to Blooming Grove, and also tied his horses 
to it. Just then a party of drunken Indians came up at full speed 
on their ponies and were yelling and whooping with their loud- 
est voices. Mr. Goodheart's horses were so frightened that they 
upset the wagon. He spoke to them, but they paid no attention 
until he addressed them in the French language. This they 
understood at once and stopped their noise. When a party 
of Indians become intoxicated, they place themselves under the 
control of some sober Indians, in order to be well taken care of. 
The party which came up to Mr. Goodheart was under the con- 
trol of two Indians, who were sober. 

The Goodheart family settled at Blooming Grove, near the 
present Central depot, on a farm now owned by Judge J. E. Mc- 
Clun. On this farm are to be found some apple trees planted by 
Father Goodheart more than fifty years ago. They still bear 
fruit. He made his claim here on the tenth section, and sold it in 
1827 to a man named Canady, who entered it. On this farm Mr. 
Goodheart made the first brick manufactured in McLean Coun- 
ty. After this the people began building chimneys of brick 
instead of sticks and clay. In 1827 he moved to Old Town tim- 
ber, where he lived until 1830, when he entered land at Bloom- 
ing Grove. He afterwards moved to the north side of Bloom- 
ington to the place now known as the Davis, Allin and Flagg 
Addition. There he stayed two years, then sold out to Samuel 
Durley, moved to Sugar Creek to a farm since known as the 
Robert MeClun place, and now in the possession of Colonel 
House. Here he lived two or three years, and then moved to 
Bloomington, where he lived until the time of his death, which 
occurred in 1842. 

Mr. Goodheart is well described by his old friend and ad- 
mirer, Judge J. E. MeClun, as follows : 



m'lban county. 185 

" He was large, robust and of dark complexion, like his son, 
our fellow-citizen, James Goodheart. He had served in the 
great European war, both on the side and against Napoleon the 
Great, and having a fine memory and a talent to communicate, 
it was a treat to hear him tell of the incidents of those great 
campaigns. He was at one time quartered in the city of Rome, 
and gave me the most satisfactory account of the cathedral of 
St. Peter I had ever heard. He had stepped the great edifice, 
and told me its dimensions with great particularity. He received 
his wages in coin and carried them in a belt around his 
body until he became galled by its weight. When the wars and 
wanderings of Mr. Goodheart were ended, he embraced the re- 
ligion of the Savior, and often said that though he loved Napo- 
leon and General Harrison very much, yet he loved Jesus Christ 
far better. Every person had confidence in Father Goodheart. 
He told his religious experience with an earnestness and sincerity 
that enlisted the attention of all and carried the conviction to 
every heart that this good old man's profession was an honest 
and sincere one. After a life of great purity and uprightness 
he died in Bloomington, and has without any doubt been for 
more than thirty years in the heavenly kingdom." 

Mr. Goodheart was for many years an exhorter in the Meth- 
odist Church, and his license given by Rev. Peter Cartwright is 
yet in the possession of his son, James Goodheart. 

William R. Goodheart had ten children. They are : 

Jacob, who died in June, 1855. 

Elizabeth C, wife of William H. Rankin, lives in Belletlower 
township. 

Mary Christina, wife of Loyal T. Johnson, lives in Kansas. 

George W., who lives near Lancaster, Keokuk County, Iowa. 

William R., who died of cholera in 1850. 

Ann Catherine, wife of Joseph Douglas, lives near Michigan- 
town, Indiana. 

Sarah Maria, wife of Durham Livingston, died in February, 
1849, and is buried by the side of her father. 

John H. was a soldier in the army during the rebellion, was 
second lieutenant of company C. Second Illinois Cavalry, and 
was killed at Merryweather's Ferry in Tennessee, in July, 1862. 
He was a brave soldier and worthy of his father's reputation. 



186 OLD SETTLERS OF 

His widow and two daughters live in Pekin. Even in early boy- 
hood he possessed a peculiarly fearless iron will ; in business he 
was energetic and industrious ; in society rather quiet, and to his 
family he was a kind and tender-hearted father. 

James Goodheart, the ninth child, lives in "Bloomington. He 
and his amiable lady gave many interesting items for this sketch. 
He has many of those attractive qualities for which his father 
was distinguished. 

The youngest child, Julia Ann Perry Goodheart, is the wife 
of Denison Douglas, of Padua township. The name Perry was 
given to her because she was born September 10, 1832, the anni- 
versary of Perry's victory on Lake Erie in 1812. 

William Evans, Sr. 

One of the oldest of the old settlers was William Evans. He 
was born September 1, 1775, near Carlisle, Cumberland County, 
Pennsylvania. His father was a soldier in the American army 
during the Revolutionary war. While the war was raging young 
William and his mother lived for a while in one of the Ameri- 
can forts on the Juniata River. Here he caught the small-pox 
and so severe was the attack that one of his eyes was made 
sightless forever. The strength of his other eve was also much 
impaired and rendered his power of vision always dim. Being 
possessed of a strong constitution he triumphed over the sick- 
ness of infancy. 

We hear nothing more of the childhood of William Evans. 
After Wayne's treaty with the Indians his father's family moved 
to Pittsburg, Ohio. Here young William showed that daring, 
adventurous disposition which afterwards made him one of the 
most successful of the early pioneers. 

It was customary for the people on the upper Ohio to load- 
their flatboats with goods or lumberandpole them down the stream 
to New Orleans. After disposing of the cargo the enterprising 
traders walked back through the unsettled wilderness to the 
upper Ohio. Young William Evans made this journey twice 
on foot. This was the stern education which prepared him for 
the success of after life. While living near Pittsburg he cleared 
two farms of forty-five acres each ; one of these he lost because 
he could not redeem it from an incumbrance of fifty dollars; 



m'lean county. 187 

the other he sold for one hundred dollars in cash and twenty-five 
dollars in goods and started for Illinois. This was in 1825. He 
first settled in Old Town in McLean County, but in 1820 he 
moved to his farm which is now a part of the city of Blooming- 
ton. He was the first settler on the ground now occupied by the 
present city of Bloomington, although when the city was first 
laid out it did not include within the boundaries the house where 
Mr. Evans lived. Mr. James Allin was the first settler on the 
original site of the city. Both of these men may be considered 
the founders of Bloomington. On Mr. Evans farm, where now 
stand the residences of Dr. Wakefield and others, he broke the 
first sod in Bloomington and in 1828 raised a splendid crop of 
winter wheat, the yield being thirty bushels to the acre. The 
wheat brought forty cents per bushel and was sold to settlers 
moving into the country. 

The first addition to Bloomington was laid out by James 
Allin. The second addition was laid out by Jesse W. Fell and 
a certain Mr. White. The land was bought by them of William 
Evans and was a part of his original farm. Mr. Niccolls and 
Judge J. E. McClun bought thirteen acres of Mr. Evans and 
laid out a third addition. 

Mr. Evans married in the year 1800 Miss Efiie Winebriner. 
He had a pleasant family of children. His wife Efiie died in 
1839 after thirty- eight years of happy wedded life. In 1840 he 
married Mrs. Martha Bay. He lived with her a contented and 
happy life until the year 1868 when he died at the advanced age 
of ninety-three years two months and seven days. Mrs. Evans 
is still living, and resides with her youngest daughter, Mrs. Hay- 
wood, who almost worships her. 

William Evans was of mixed Welch and Irish descent, his 
father being Welch and his mother Irish. He had a tolerable 
common school education which he obtained at a district school 
near his birthplace in Pennsylvania. 

William Evans was a quiet, unassuming man. He had in 
him a great deal of the "milk of human kindness." His good 
acts were done without ostentation ; he never allowed his right 
hand to know what his left hand did ; and there are many who 
will remember his generosity until their latest day. He gave 
many building lots to poor widows and it is probable that all of 



188 OLD SETTLERS OF 

his generous deeds will not be known until the final day when 
the Lord makes up his jewels. Mr. Evans possessed a remark- 
able influence over the Indians. These wild men of nature are 
wonderful in their quick and accurate estimate of character. 
They saw instantly that Mr. Evans was a man in whom they 
could trust. They rested often before his door and delighted in 
his presence. They often slept on his floor at night and some- 
times covered it, and he always made them welcome. He was 
a man who would have many friends wherever he went. The 
llev. Mr. McElroy, who preached his funeral discourse, said: 

" He was wont to say : ' A man always takes his neighbors 
with him wherever he goes ;' and was fond of relating the fol- 
lowing anecdote as illustrative of the truth: "Two men had 
emigrated at an early day to the West. They put up together 
at the same tavern at night. The landlord inquired of one where 
he was going and why he came to the West. " I am going to 
settle in the bottom here," said he, "and I came West to get rid 
of my troublesome neighbors." " You will have bad neighbors 
where you are going," said the landlord, and turning to the 
other he asked the same question. " I came West," said he, 
" because my farm was small and I desired to get more land, as 
I have a large family of children. I am going to settle in the 
bottom, and the only regret I have in leaving my old home is, 
I have left many good neighbor*. " " You will have good neigh- 
bors where you are going," said the landlord. u How is this ?" 
said the first, when we are going to the same place ?" " Sim- 
ply," replied he, "a man takes his neighbors with him when he 
goes. ' " 

This quaint little story shows the influence of character and 
a kind and neighborly disposition. 

Mr. Evans was a man of God, a quiet, earnest, devoted 
Christian. He united with the Methodist church in 1835 and 
patiently upheld the cross of Christ until the day of his death. 

As to his personal appearance, William Evans was quite 
heavily set and weighed perhaps two hundred pounds. He was 
careful in business matters, and in his old age when sight and 
hearing had partially failed, his mind was always sufficiently 
clear to allow him to manage his business. All who knew Mr. 
Evans speak of him as a kind and excellent neighbor. He took 



m'lean county. 18 ( J 

great delight in playing the violin which was nearly always the 
musical instrument of early days. Music was a rare treat to the 
early settlers and the old airs played by Mr. Evans were gladly 
received. 

William Dimmitt. 

William Dimmitt was born on a farm in Alleghany County, 
Maryland, about eight miles from Cumberland, in June, 1797. 
His father emigrated from England, but his mother was Ameri- 
can born. When he was three years of age his father died. 
After that he lived with his grandparents until he was married 
at the age of nineteen. He received his very moderate educa- 
tion partly in Ohio, where his grandparents removed when he 
was ten years of age, and partly in Illinois. He was considered 
rather an old scholar, as he did not remove to Illinois until he 
was twenty-eight years of age. He came to Illinois in 1825, and 
stayed the first summer on the Vermilion River, near the pres- 
ent town of Danville. In the fall he came to Blooming Grove, 
and located on the present site of Bloomington. Here, with the 
assistance of another party, he entered one hundred and thirty 
acres of land. He found, as settlers here, William Orendorff, 
William Walker, John Benson and the Rhodes family, consist- 
ing of John, Jerry, Samuel, Aaron and James. 

When Bloomington was laid out in 1831, Mr. Dimmitt had 
no thought of its future greatness and prosperity. But he lived 
to make six additions to the city. He sold these additions grad- 
ually as the demand for lots increased. He says that when the 
city was laid out the land was worth from five to six dollars per 
acre, but now much of it is worth from five to seven hundred 
dollars per foot. He says that at the sale of lots in 1831, forty 
dollars was a high price to pay for a lot. 

When Mr. Dimmitt first came here the people suffered from 
that most disagreeable but not very dangerous disease — fever 
and ague. The changes in the weather were then more sudden 
and more severe than at present. He thinks the coldest winter 
was in 1843. On the tenth of March of that year people were 
crossing the river at Ottawa on the ice. 

Mr. Dimmitt speaks well of the Indians. He always lived 
at peace with them; they were good neighbors. All trade with 



190 OLD SETTLERS OF 

them was exchange. He served six months in the Black Hawk 
war. He went to Dixon's Ferry, where the volunteers were 
gathered together, but after the unfortunate defeat at Stillman's 
Run, about twenty-five miles northeast of Dixon, he was mus- 
tered out with the entire force, as the term of their enlistment 
had expired. He was well acquainted with John Dixon, one of 
the early pioneers of the West, and the founder of the pretty 
little village which bears his name. He was also well acquainted 
with Colonel John Dement, who was a Major and who made for 
himself so honorable a record during the Black Hawk war. 

But those stirring times are gone. Nearly all of the early 
hard working pioneers, who are now living, have acquired a fair 
competence. Mr. Dimmitt has made some money by his good 
sense, good management and hard work, and he now enjoys the 
fruits of his labors. He has raised a family of ten children, 
three sons and seven daughters, all of whom are living. Al- 
though he is seventy-five years of age he is enjoying most 
excellent health, and we ma}- indulge in the hope that, on ac- 
count of his vigorous constitution, it will yet be many years be- 
fore he is gathered to his fathers. 

The "times" with the first pioneers were not flush. They 
received at first but a small return for their labor. Oats and 
corn brought from eight to ten cents per bushel ; wheat brought 
from forty to fifty cents per bushel, and pork ranged from $1.25 
to $1.50 per hundred. 

As to personal appearance, Mr. Dimmitt is about five feet and 
ten inches in height. His face is full ; his hair is white, but he 
has plenty of it, and his eye-sight is still pretty good. He made 
a fortuue without expecting to do so by the sale of town lots. 
He has never held a public office, and never sought one. His 
taste has never led him in that direction; he is a good American 
citizen; he has lived a useful life, and the community where he 
resides is the better for his exertions. 

Robert Guthrie and Rev. Robert Elton Guthrie. 

Robert Guthrie was a native of Pennsylvania, and was of 
Scotch and Welch descent. He was born November 1, 1795. 
His wife was Catherine Spawr, also a native of Pennsylvania, 
and a daughter of Valentine Spawr, late of McLean County, 



m'lean county. 191 

Illinois. She was of German descent. In the fall of 182G 
Robert Guthrie moved with his family to Funk's Grove in Mc- 
Lean County, Illinois. His family then consisted of his wife 
and five children, named John, Margaret, Robert Elton, Jacob 
and Adam. lie made his first improvement where the Chicago 
& Alton Railroad now enters the north end of Funk's Grove, 
before the land was in market. He had when he came but fifty 
cents in his pocket, and was fifty dollars in debt. He husked 
corn for Isaac and Absalom Funk for fifty cents per day and 
split rails for twenty-five cents per hundred, and it was very 
hard to support his family during the first winter. He was 
helped very much by his good luck in killing two fine bucks that 
had been fighting and had locked their antlers together so tight- 
ly as to be unable to get loose. He considered this a special 
interposition of Providence. These fortunate circumstances oc- 
curred when he had just lost some of his stacks by a prairie fire 
and when he felt very much depressed. The fire was one of the 
grandest and most terrible ever known in the West. It extended 
around the whole north and west sides of Funk's Grove, and 
the walls of fiame moved rapidly forward. The whole heavens 
were lit up, and at midnight everything was almost as easily 
and clearly distinguished as at mid-day. In the morning the 
whole country was black, and many stacks and rail fences were 
simply smoking cinders. 

At the end of two years Mr. Guthrie had a farm opened up, 
but was obliged to sell it in order to pay a note of fifty dollars, 
which fell due. It was given for fifty dollars which he had bor- 
rowed of Mary Cox in order to come West. But she had in the 
meantime become Mrs. Kimler, and needed her money in order 
to get her outfit for housekeeping. 

While Mr. Guthrie lived at Funk's Grove he had his corn 
ground at a mill at the north end of Twin Grove near the pres- 
ent M. E. Church on the old Dan Munsell place, then owned by 
Mr. Matthew Ilarbord. He shelled his corn by scraping the 
ears on the edge of a fire shovel held over a wash-tub, and 
liis sons took it to mill on horseback. There they were obliged 
to wait to get it ground, and when their turn came they hitched 
'their horses to the mill and ground their grain. These boys, 
John and Robert Elton Guthrie, aged respectively twelve and 



192 OLD SETTLERS OF 

nine years, sometimes bad a hard time of it going ten miles on 
horseback to mill, but the children of the early settlers learned 
to be men when* they were very young. At the mill was nearly 
always a crowd of men and boys waiting their turn to grind their 
grain. They passed their time in racing their horses, running 
foot races, wrestling, jumping and fighting. They felt obliged 
to exercise their muscle in some way all the time. 

After selling his claim and improvements iu 1829, Mr. Guth- 
rie moved to Money Creek, about nine miles northeast of where 
Bloomington now stands, on a place now owned by Benjamin 
Ogden. Here he built a hewed log cabin, fenced and broke from 
forty to sixty acres of land, and began to get a good start once 
more. But the land came into market in the meantime and Mr. 
Guthrie was unable to enter it and was again thrown out of 'a 
home. 

The winter of 1830-31 is remembered by all as the winter of 
the deep snow. Three days before the snow began falling, Mr. 
Guthrie and Frederick Trimmer started for St. Louis with teams 
and wagons to haul goods for James Allin, who had opened a 
small store where Bloomington now is. They intended to be 
gone only ten days or two weeks, but they did not see their 
families again for five weeks. They were obliged to leave their 
goods, wagons and Mr. Guthrie's oxen about fifteen miles the 
other side of Springfield, and came through with Mr. Trimmer's 
horses to break the way. During this time their families were 
in a state of anxious suspense, and were obliged to live on boiled 
corn ; indeed, during the whole winter they had very little to 
eat except pounded meal. During that winter Mr. Guthrie 
sent his children to school, though they had to work their way 
for a mile through snow that reached nearly to their necks ; but 
when it became packed they walked over the crust. 

In the spring of 1831 Mr. Guthrie moved to Major's Grove 
near where the Chicago and Alton railroad shops now stand. 
There he improved a farm for Mr. James Allin. But in the fall 
of 1832 he gave up farming, built a house on the southwest cor- 
ner of Front and Lee streets and began the business of plaster- 
ing and carpentering, and continued it until the day of his death, 
which occurred in the spring of 1846. He was buried in the 
Bloomington cemetery. His wife who died in 1856 now rests 



m'lean county. 193 

beside him, and four of their children, Jacob, Rebecca, Thomas 
Haines and Catherine Elizabeth are laid there also. 

Robert Guthrie was about five feet ten inches in height, was 
slenderly built and a little stoop-shouldered; had dark hair in 
his younger days, dark eyes and swarthy complexion. He was 
not a very excitable man, was a kind father but strict with his 
children, and was a sincere but unostentatious Christian. He 
was temperate in all of his habits except the use of tobacco. 

Rev. Robert Elton Guthrie. 

Robert Elton Guthrie was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, 
on the Fourth of July, 1819. His life is pretty well shown in 
the foregoing sketch of his father. When his father took up 
the business of plastering and carpentering, the eldest son John 
was apprenticed to Lewis Bunn to learn the trade of blacksmith, 
while Robert learned his father's trade. He was a stout lad and 
soon became quite skillful in the use of tools, and a great sup- 
port to the family. His services were so important that he went 
very little to school, only five months to Mr. Amasa C. Wash- 
burn in an old log school-house that stood in the crossing of 
Main and Olive streets. 

In the spring of 1835 Mr. James Miller and his brother-in- 
law, Mr. Moore, came to Bloomington, and this so strengthened 
the Methodist community that they built a church and finished 
it in the fall of 1836. This was done under the charge of Rev. 
Zadoc Hall now of the Central Illinois Conference. Before this 
all religious services had been held in the court house. In the 
fall of 1836 Rev. S. W. D. Chase was stationed at Bloomington 
under Rev. John St. Clair as presiding elder. During the fol- 
lowing winter the community was awakened by a great revival 
and among the converts were John, Margaret, Robert and Jacob 
Guthrie. This revival had a great influence upon the morals of 
Bloomington. 

After his conversion Robert Guthrie determined to be a min- 
ister of the gospel and considered this his solemn duty. He 
studied, when he could snatch a moment's time from his work, 
and recited to Rev. Richard Haney, who had succeeded Mr. 
Chase as pastor of the church at Bloomington. At the Illinois 
Annual Conference held at Jacksonville in September, 1841> 
13 



194 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Guthrie was admitted on trial on the recommendation of 
the quarterly conference of Bloomington station. He was ap- 
pointed to travel the Wauponsett mission and his work that year 
had for its outposts the Mazon settlement, South Ottawa, Ver- 
milionville, Long Point, Pontiac and Indian Grove, where the 
town of Fairbury now stands, and all the intermediate territory. 
He made this circuit every three weeks, with nineteen regular 
and from two to six extra appointments. This kept Mr. Guth- 
rie very busy, and he was obliged to read and study in the sad- 
dle while going from point to point. For his year's salary he 
received fifty dollars from the missionary fund and twenty-five 
or thirty dollars collected on his circuit, paid principally in arti- 
cles of clothing, money being almost out of use at that time. At 
the close of his pastoral year he was presented with some half a 
dozen pairs of socks and fifteen pounds of wool. He carried the 
wool to Ottawa on horseback and sold it for an order on a store 
for three dollars. The result of his first year's work was the 
addition of twenty-five or thirty members to the church. The 
following year was marked by a sweeping revival, which ex- 
tended over the whole circuit. The next five years Avere spent 
by Mr. Guthrie in the traveling circuits in the southern part of 
the State, which was then all within the Illinois Conference. He 
was many times troubled with regard to his financial matters, as 
his salary was barely enough to keep him in the necessaries of 
life. The great flood was in the year 1844, and as his work em- 
braced the section of the country bounded on the south and 
east by the Mississippi and Big Muddy Rivers, and on the west 
by the Kaskaskia, he had great difficulty in traveling from one 
point to another. He was often obliged to ride through water 
on the bottom lands for many miles, and sometimes was com- 
pelled to swim his horse. His salary for this labor was one hun- 
dred dollars a year, and was paid by the people in calves, pigs, 
corn, oats, castor-beans, pork, hoop-poles, barrel staves, barrels, 
and orders on stores ; nevertheless he was happy, knowing that 
he was engaged in a useful and blessed work. In 1844 he was 
appointed to the Jonesboro circuit, in Union County, and re- 
ceived only forty-five dollars for his salary. At the close of the 
conference year, on the twenty-sixth day of August, 1845, he 
was married by the Rev. S. W. D. Chase, his presiding elder, to 



m'lean county. 195 

Miss Lucy Kelsall, at the residence of her father, in Randolph 
County, and she has been his good and helpful wife ever since. 
At the next conference Mr. Guthrie was elected and ordained 
an elder. For the next year he was appointed to the Nashville 
circuit, and during the following year to the Sparta circuit, where 
he promptly began his labor. But at the second quarterly meet- 
ing he found his pay so small that he was obliged to resign his 
charge and work for his support. He rented a small farm, the 
one formerly owned and occupied by his father-in-law, then re- 
cently deceased. His worldly goods were then very few, and he 
and his wife and child were forced to live for some time on corn 
bread. But he was fortunate enough in February to kill three 
deer, which greatly assisted him. He worked hard and succeed- 
ed well, and by the next conference he was free from all finan- 
cial embarrassments and again went into the work of the minis- 
try. He was appointed to Rushville station, in Schuyler Coun- 
ty, but at the end of the year was again in financial difficulty. 
The year following he was appointed to the Beardstown circuit, 
but his financial embarrassments became so great that he re- 
quested to be located, and went to work at his trade, carpenter- 
ing and plastering. He worked at Beardstown in the winter, 
during the day, and preached every other evening, as a great 
revival of religion was in progress there. Rev. Mr. Rucker and 
himself conducted the exercises, and great good was accom- 
plished. By the time the conference met during the following 
summer, he had relieved himself of his financial troubles by his 
hard labor, and was again ready to work in the ranks of the 
itinerants. He was appointed to the Springfield station, where 
he labored with success for two years. After this he was ap- 
pointed to fill the East Charge in Jacksonville, which he did for 
one year very pleasantly and successfully. In the following year 
he was appointed agent to sell scholarships for the Illinois Con- 
ference Female College. This was done against his better judg- 
ment, at the request of Rev. J. F. Jacques, the President of the 
institution, and B. Newman, the financial agent. After this ap- 
pointment was made, while Mr. Guthrie was returning from 
Jacksonville, in company with Rev. William Hindall, Dr. J. C. 
Finley and Samuel Elliott, Dr. Finley said : " Guthrie, I th-th- 
think the B-Bishop has spoiled a t-t-tolerable good pr-preacher 



196 OLD SETTLERS OF 

to m-make a v-very poor agent," to which Mr. Guthrie replied : 
" I fear so, Doctor." The appointment was not a success, and 
that year ended his work as a financial agent. 

The following year he was appointed presiding elder of the 
Quincy district, and traveled it for three years in succession. He 
felt greatly encouraged with the prosperity of the church in 
most of the pastoral charges. Rushville, Mt. Sterling, Clayton, 
Columbus, Menden and Plymouth all had special visitations of 
grace and a large increase in membership. But the salary was 
small, and after three years he was changed to Decatur station. 
Here he spent one of the happiest and most successful years of 
his life. The church enjoyed a revival and paid off a debt on 
its property of more than four hundred dollars. He says "there 
is no more warm-hearted people for a minister to labor with in 
the Illinois Conference than is found in the Methodist church 
and congregation of Decatur." In the fall of 1858, Mr. Guth- 
rie was appointed to the charge of the Bloomington district as 
presiding elder, and was continued at that work for four years. 
During that period nearly every charge in the district enjoyed 
revivals. The charge at Bloomington, under Rev. I. C. Kim- 
ber, and afterwards under Rev. L. C. Pitner, and the charge at 
Leroy, under Rev. Ira Emerson enjoyed very extensive re- 
vivals. 

During those four years Mr. Guthrie laid up enough money 
on a salary of nine hundred dollars to buy a quarter section of 
land to which he could retire when age or infirmity should pre- 
vent him from continuing his labors in the ministry. It is the 
southwest quarter of section eleven, in Bellefiower township, 
McLean County, and cost four dollars per acre. 

In 1868, at the urgent solicitations of his friends, Mr. Guth- 
rie became a candidate for the office of Circuit Clerk of Mc- 
Lean County. He was elected and held his office four years. 
He never held any other public office, and at the expiration of 
his term did not come forward for re-election. 

Robert Elton Guthrie is five feet and eleven inches in "height, 
is well set, well proportioned, and has a broad chest and broad 
shoulders. His hair was dark when young, but now is rather 
gray. He has a high forehead, hazel eyes, good countenance, 
and a healthy constitution. As will be seen in this sketch, he 



m'lean county. 197 

prizes very highly his Christian experience, and wishes to see 
the power and influence of Christianity extended. 

Adam Guthrie. 

Adam Guthrie was born March 10, 1825, in the town of Cir- 
cleville, Pickaway County, Ohio. His father was Scotch-Irish, 
and his mother was German. He was one of a family of twelve 
children, eight boys and four girls. It is worthy of remark that 
nearly all of our old settlers were members of very large fami- 
lies, the children usually numbering from eight to twelve, and 
in One case twenty-one. Adam's father came to McLean Coun- 
ty with his family in September, 1826. He bought and sold 
land claims in McLean County until 1832, when he came to 
Bloomington and invested some money in town lots. After 
building a house he began to work at plastering, but never ac- 
cumulated much property. Adam, being only one year old 
when his father came to McLean County, received the education 
of a pioneer school boy. Mr. Washburn, of whose life we have 
written a sketch, was one of his teachers. Young Adam at- 
tended school in winter and helped his father in the plastering 
business during the summer. In 1846 his father died, and 
Adam learned the trade of plastering of a Mr. Lawrence, usually 
called Squire Lawrence. After two years' service for Lawrence 
he went to work on his own account, and has continued at this 
business until the present time, when not interrupted by the 
duties of public office. From 1865 until 1873 he has held the 
office of assessor, and has performed his duties carefully. Mr. 
Guthrie also acted as deputy recorder from 1868 to 1870 for his 
brother, who was clerk of the Circuit Court, from 1868 to 
1872. In 1870 he took the United States census in district 
number seven. 

Adam Guthrie married, in 1849, Miss L. L. Butler, of 
Bloomington. The marriage service was performed by the 
noted Wesleyan minister, Thomas Magee. He has now an in- 
teresting family of three children, two boys and one girl. 

Adam Guthrie has plastered or helped to plaster nearly two 
hundred houses, and has indeed earned his bread by the sweat 
ot his brow. The price paid for plastering is now much greater 
than it was twenty years ago, nevertheless Mr. Guthrie says that 



198 OLD SETTLERS OF 

inore money could be made by the contractor in early times, be- 
cause the price of labor and material was so much less. In 
early clays the wages of the best workmen were from $1.00 to 
$1.50 per day, while they are at present from $3.00 to $3.50. 

During the late rebellion Adam Guthrie enlisted as a private 
in the Ninety-fourth Illinois, and was soon made corporal, but 
after serving eight months he was discharged on account of ill- 
health. He participated in one engagement, that of Prairie 
Grove, on the seventh of December, 1802. 

Adam Guthrie has the feeling of an old settler, and takes 
pride in the growth and development of the country, and in the 
fact that he is identified with it. He takes pleasure in recalling 
the incidents of early life, and any little event awakens this 
feeling. He even takes satisfaction in having attended the first 
funeral in the old cemetery, that of Mrs. Pennington. He says 
she lived in the house now occupied by L. Matern, carriage 
maker, the same in which Mr. Hill printed the first newspaper 
published in Bloomington. 

As to personal appearance, Adam Guthrie is well formed, 
and nearly six feet in height. His constitution is not very good. 
His features are strong and his nose a little Boman. He has 
never been much of a speculator, although he understands the 
value of property, and knows how to make the assessment. 

David Cox. 

David Cox was born January 12, 1811, about four miles from 
Circleville, in Pickaway County, Ohio. His father's name was 
Benjamin Cox, and his mother's was Philena Dj^e. He thinks his 
mother was of Welch descent. He went to school in Ohio, but 
in this respect differed little from other boys of that time. Edu- 
cational advantages were not remarkably good. He was a very 
industrious boy, his father never allowed him to be idle, and the 
habit of industry became so fixed that it has remained in his old 
age. In 1825 his father came to McLean County and bought 
of John W. Dawson an improved claim with a log cabin, a barn 
and seventy acres under fence, for two hundred dollars. He re- 
turned to Ohio to bring out his family, but died within two or 
three weeks afterwards. But Mrs. Cox, the mother of David, 
brought out the family, which consisted of eight children, four 



m'lean county. 199 

sons, three daughters and one nephew, John Kimler. They 
left Ohio August 29, 1826, and arrived September 23. The sea- 
son was pleasant and the roads were good, until they came to 
the beech woods of Indiana. There they were troubled by mud, 
but when they came to the prairie they had a pleasant roadonee 
more. They saw only three houses between the Vermilion Salt 
Works (twelve miles this side of Danville) and Blooming Grove, 
then called Keg Grove. This is a distance of about seventy 
miles. They had no particular adventure or trouble, except that 
once their horses strayed away, and the Indians took them, and 
the animals were not recovered for some time. They came back 
poor from neglect and hard Indian fare. The family settled on 
the east side of Blooming Grove, where David Cox now lives. 
It is near the track of the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western 
Railway. 

The Cox family had a hard time during the winter of the 
deep snow, as all the settlers had, and pounded their corn, of 
course. Mrs. David Cox (then Miss Walker) says they parched 
corn and ground it in a coffee mill, and thought it good 
living. 

David Cox was more of a worker than a hunter ; he says the 
deer always saw him first, and he preferred the certainty of the 
reward of toil to the uncertainty of finding game which could 
see him first. The falling of the meteors in 1833 was quite an 
era for the old settlers. The meteors came by millions, and 
made the night much lighter by their falling. It is said that 
James Rhodes thought the world was coming to an end, and 
arose and began reading his Bible. 

Mr. Cox never lost much by prairie fires, being always care- 
ful to guard against them. The vegetation of the country has 
been changed by settling it up. The prairie grass has disap- 
peared, and the blue grass has taken its place. Air. Cox tells of 
some peculiar vegetables, called the ramps, which formerly 
grew in the timber. The} 7 tasted like onions, and were liked 
by the cattle, but gave a bad flavor to the milk. They flavored 
everything they touched and were very disagreeable, but are 
now nowhere to be seen. 

David Cox married, May 29, 1833, Miss.Sophrona J. Walker, 
a very amiable and pleasant lady. Mrs. Cox is a good house- 



200 OLD SETTLERS OF 

wife, and takes care of her household goods. She has coverlets 
which were woven before the Black Hawk war. She has in 
constant use the table, the stand, the cupboard and the chairs, 
which were made in the days of the early settlement. She is a 
very entertaining lady, as may he seen from the following, which 
she writes of the early settlement : 

I" Only a few white families were settled in Blooming Grove 
when we came, but the Indians were plenty. The squaws called 
on us occasionally for the purpose of trading beads, bead baskets 
and trinkets of various kinds. I thought it very amusing to be 
visited by the red ladies of the forest. Though I was but a 
child I took particular notice of their language. They always 
wanted something to eat, and would sometimes call for husquel 
(corn) and for cookcush (meat). When we came here our family 
was in limited circumstances, and when I wanted a nice dress, 
something better than father felt able to buy, I would take my 
basket and hoe and hunt through the woods and dig ginseng, 
which was dried and sold. Our way of visiting was different 
from what it is at present. We thought it no trouble to walk 
seven or eight miles to go to a spinning party. The school- 
masters in the early days thought it necessary to be more severe 
in their punishments than at present. I remember well when I 

was going to school to Mr. H . He left the school house 

during one noon, and when he returned he made the boys think 
he had been on the house-top watching their proceedings while 
they thought him absent, and he called them up one by one, and 
asked what they had done. He called up one boy and said : 
' Henry, what have you done ?' The reply was : ' I took after 
one of the girls and tried to hug her, and chased her out in the 
rain.' He was severely whipped. Every boy had to draw his 
coat for each trifling offense. I wonder if Mr. H. ever thinks 
of it? My parents were very pious people, and tried to bring 
up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. They 
often had preaching at their house." 

Mr. and Mrs. Cox have had six children, of whom five are 
living. They are : 

Mrs. Martha M. Rhodes, wife of Aaron Rhodes. 

William Marcus Cox, born August 9, 1836, lives two miles 
south of his father's. 



m'lean county. 201 

Mrs. Mary Ellen Sweeney, wife of Dennis Sweeney, lives in 
Blooraington. 

Leander Melville Cox was born *\pril 18, 1841, and at pres- 
ent lives in Bloomington. 

Mrs. Huldah M. Deems, wife of George Deems, lives with 
her father. 

Cora Ellis Cox, born February 17, 1854, died in infancy. 

Mr. Cox is a man rather less than the medium height, weighs 
one hundred a'nd thirty-five pounds, is always busy, too busy 
to ever weigh much. He is always on the move, and is quite 
noted for his ceaseless activity. He is a pleasant and somewhat 
humorous man, very kind to everyone, and quite noted among 
the old settlers. His neighbors are always glad to see him, but 
they never catch him idle. Mr. Cox has been very temperate in 
his habits, and never was intoxicated in his life, though he lived 
in times when it was the custom to use ardent spirits. He has 
never used tobacco nor made use of profane language. He is a 
very hardy old settler, and can bear a great deal. In 1854 or '55 
he was on board of a railroad train which was snowed up near 
Mt. Pulaski. The snow came so thick and fast that many peo- 
ple were lost while at home feeding their stock, and it was so 
deep that they could not travel with teams. Mr. Cox walked 
through that snow from near Mt. Pulaski to Funk's Grove, a 
distance of thirty miles. Mr. Cox was an Old Line Whig and 
afterwards a Republican; nevertheless, he voted for Jackson, 
who was certainly the most powerful political man in the United 
States. 

William McCullough. 

William McCullough, son of Peter and Levina McCullough, 
was born September 11, 1812, in Flemingsburg, Kentucky. Pe- 
ter McCullough was a noted character. He was a man of re- 
markable shrewdness. The McCullough family came in the year 
182G to what is now McLean County, Illinois, and settled at Dry 
Grove. Here Peter McCullough kept for a while a house of 
entertainment. A queer incident is related of him which shows 
his disposition and character. At one time a stranger stopped 
with old Peter and used some profane language without any oc- 
casion. Old Peter paid no attention for some time, but at last 



202 OLD SETTLERS OF 

he said : "Stranger, I generally do what little swearing is neces- 
sary on these premises!" At another time, some years later, 
while Peter McCullough was in Bloomington, some merchants 
insisted on selling him some fine clothes. This happened while 
the bankrupt law was in force, and while so many men were 
taking advantage of it to pay their debts. These merchants had 
themselves been through bankruptcy, and when they asked old 
Peter to buy some fine clothes he refused, saying that, if he did 
so, people would think him a miserable bankrupt. 

In early life William McCullough worked on a farm. He 
was a boy of remarkable spirit, and his great resolution was 
plainly seen even in his } 7 outh. In 1882 he enlisted as a private 
soldier in the company commanded by Merrit Covel, and went 
to the Black Hawk war. There he was distinguished for his 
great personal courage. He was so unfortunate as to lose his 
gun, but made good the deficiency by snatching a gun from the 
hands of an Indian on the ground of Stillman's Run. This af- 
fair is a matter of great notoriety ; but to one unacquainted with 
the matter it seems almost incredible. But it is certainly true 
that McCullough took a gun from a hostile Indian on the field 
of Stillman's Run. The gun, however, was not a very good one, 
as it exploded in his hands after the close of the Black Hawk 
war, while he was firing on parade. 

In December, 1833, William McCullough was married to 
Miss Mary Williams. They had been in their youth schoolmates 
and were taught by Milton H. Williams, the father of Mrs. Mc- 
Cullough. 

In 1840 William McCullough lost his right arm in a thresh- 
ing machine. After, it was torn off, the stump was amputated. 
AVhen the amputation of the arm was about to be made, McCul- 
lough was asked whom he wished to. hold it, and he chose 
Osborn Barnard. During the operation McCullough sat quietly 
smoking, but he thought he saw Mr. Barnard tremble a little, 
and cautioned the latter to be careful and steady. This incident 
is given by Mr. Barnard himself. 

In the fall of 1840 Mr. McCullough was elected sheriff of 
McLean County, and held this office for three successive terms. 
He was then elected Circuit Clerk of the county, and held this 
office for four successive terms. He was an exceedingly popular 
man, and had the warmest of friends. 



m'lean county. 203 

In August, 1861, Mr. McCullougb entered the army and was 
commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry. 
With only one arm and a defective eye, he nevertheless, per- 
formed his duty fearlessly and efficiently. He was at Fort Henry 
and Fort Donelson, at Shiloh, and at Corinth. On the fifth of 
December, 1862, Colonel McCullough was killed in the engage- 
ment with the rebels near Cofteeville, Mississippi. His body was 
brought home and buried in the Bloomington Cemetery. When 
the news of the death of Colonel McCullough reached Bloom- 
ington, the bar of McLean County held a meeting and passed 
resolutions to his memory, as he continued to hold his office of 
clerk of the Circuit Court. The following is taken from the 
report of this meeting : 

" William McCullough entered the military service of the 
United States in August, 1861, and was immediately commis- 
sioned lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry. From 
that time he gave his whole heart to the cause of his country, 
and put all his energy to the suppression of the foulest rebellion 
that ever disgraced the pages of history. He was present with 
his regiment at the operation which resulted in the capture of 
Fort IIenr3', and in the taking of Fort Donelson he rendered 
such efficient and valuable service that he attracted the attention 
of his commanding officer (the lamented General Wallace) whose 
official report acknowledges and commends his gallant conduct. 
He was also in the battle of Shiloh and in all the movements of 
the army that led to the evacuation of Corinth by the rebels un- 
der General Beauregard, and from that time until his death he 
was always present where danger was to be met, or laurels won, 
and was ever a brave, faithful, energetic and accomplished sol- 
dier. 

" In consideration of the service he has rendered the country, 
and inasmuch as he was long officially connected with this Court, 
the members of this bar in perpetuation of his memory, pray 
that this paper together with the following resolutions be spread 
upon the records of this Court : 

"Resolved, That we, the members of this bar, have heard 
with the deepest regret of the death of Lieutenant Colonel Wil- 
liam McCullough, the clerk of this Court, who fell in battle, 
bravely contending for the liberty and laws of his country, 
against a causeless and most Kicked rebellion. 



204 OLD SETTLERS OF 

" Resolved, That in the death of Lieutenant Colonel McCul- 
lough, we feel that we have lost a warm-hearted, faithful friend, 
but our greatest regret is that the Government has lost a brave, 
accomplished and patriotic soldier, and liberty a valiant cham- 
pion. 

" Resolved, That we take this solemn occasion to renew, with 
a firmer purpose, our unalterable attachment to the Constitution 
and laws of the country, and to again pledge to the Govern- 
ment our unswerving support and warmest sympathy in all its 
efforts to suppress this infernal rebellion. 

"Resolved, That the clerk of this Court, furnish to the family 
of Lieutenant Colonel McCullough a copy of these resolutions. 
" Colonel Gridley then addressed the meeting, referring to 
his long acquaintance and intimac}^ with the deceased, touching 
upon many tender incidents of his life, demonstrating the kind 
and social feelings, the sterling integrity and true bravery of the 
man. That he was not ambitious, yet always by the choice of 
the people filling important positions of trust. He spoke elo- 
quently arid feelingly of the great cause of our country to which 
Colonel McCullough had so unhesitatingly given up his life. 

" His Honor, Judge Scott, also spoke to the same effect, tes- 
tifying from his long and intimate acquaintance, to his goodness 
and nobleness of heart, and of the kindness he had received, 
both from him and his family, when, some years ago, he made 
his home with them, and of the many endearing reminiscences 
that crowded upon his mind in this sad hour of bereavement. 

" Hon. Leonard Swett commencing by saying : 'At a time 
like this silence seems most eloquent,' referred to our many 
brave and good citizens that had before fallen by the hands of 
this terrible rebellion. He spoke particularly and at some length 
of the history of Colonel McCullough in connection with this 
war, of his bravery and noble bearing upon the battle-field and 
of the loss this community and the country have sustained in 
his death, and that 'those gaps that death makes are not easily 
filled.' He spoke most feelingly and tenderly of the family of 
the deceased, of his bearing to them the sad message of death. 
" The meeting was further addressed most eloquently and ap- 
propriately by Messrs. W. H. Hanna, Jesse Bishop, David Brier 
J. H. Wickizer, R. E. Williams, James Ewing and M. W 



m'lean county. 205 

Strayer, all giving some pleasant incidents of kindness which 
they had received at the hands of the deceased, and all bearing 
testimony to the uniform urbanity, sociability, kindness, gener- 
osity, fidelity and integrity of Colonel McCullough in all the 
walks of social and public life. 

" Upon motion, the preamble and resolutions were then unan- 
imously adopted. 

" Also upon motion, W. H. Hanna, Esq., was appointed a 
committee on behalf of the bar to present these resolutions to 
the Court and to ask that they be spread upon the records of the 
same. W. P. Boyd, President. 

Jesse Birch, Secretary." 

William McCullough had eight children, four of whom grew 
to manhood and womanhood. They are : 

Mrs. Nannie L. Orme, widow of General William W. Orme, 
who, during the rebellion, entered the United States service as 
colonel of the Ninety-fourth Illinois Infantry, and was after- 
wards made a general. He died September 13, 1866, of sickness 
contracted while in the army. 

Mrs. Fannie M. Orme, wife of Frank D. Orme, lives in 
Washington, D. C. 

William A. McCullough, died September 2, 1869. He was, 
during the war, a soldier in the Fifth Illinois Cavalry. 

Howard M. McCullough died July 1, 1871. He was, during 
the war, a soldier m the Ninety-fourth Illinois Infantry. 

Colonel McCullough was of medium height, was very pleas- 
ant and polite in his manners and warm-hearted and generous in 
his disposition. His hair in his younger days was dark, afterwards 
gray, and his eyes were black and expressive. He was one of 
the most bold and fearless of men, and it may be doubted 
whether he ever had the feeling of fear or really knew what it 
was. He was frank and outspoken in his manner and a warm 
friend. He wasoneof the most popular men in McLean County, 
for he had those bold and generous qualities which men and 
women admire. 



206 old settlers of 

Dr. Isaac Baker. 

Dr. Isaac Baker was born September 13, 1783, in Fairfield 
County, Connecticut. The ancestry of Dr. Baker was Puritan 
and is traced to the settlement of the Plymouth colony. He was 
educated at an early day for a physician and studied seven 
years. 

He married in Ohio in the fall of 1803, Susannah M. Dodge. 
In 1810 or '11 the Baker family moved to Marietta, Ohio. During 
the war of 1812 he lived at the block house at Marietta, and it 
was his duty for a part of the time to watch from a tree top for 
Indians, while the men were at work in the field. He learned 
surveying in Ohio and became quite skillful in the use of the 
instruments. He was also an architect and superintended the 
construction of many buildings. " In 1820 he went from Ohio 
to New York to aid his brother-in-law in the erection of steam 
works for a factory, and from there he went to Bath, in Maine, 
where he built the first steam mill ever erected in that State." 

On the eleventh of July, 1827, he came to what is now 
McLean County, Illinois. The journey was made in wet weather 
over muddy roads and corduroy tracks through the swamps. He 
settled first at Harley's Grove and there built a house. But after 
some calculation he concluded that it would never be sufficiently 
settled to support a school to educate his children and he sold 
his claim, having lived on it only a few months. He next settled 
in the southwestern part of Funk's Grove, where he remained 
two years and sold out to a man named Rankin and bought a 
claim a little south of William Ollendorff's at Blooming Grove. 
When the land came into market, he entered his claim of one 
hundred and sixty acres. 

In the spring of 1831 Mr. James Allin came to Isaac Baker 
and said : " Come, get your chain and compass and let's lay out 
a town." Then Allin and Baker and William OrendorfF laid 
out the town upon land which James Allin had given to be used 
for that purpose. Mr. Allin was very enthusiastic about the 
future of Bloomington and took out a map to convince the gen- 
tlemen of the favorable situation of the place. He put a hazel- 
switch across it and said it was on the direct route from Chicago 
to St. Louis and that it was between Columbus, Ohio, and Flint 
Bluffs (now Burlington), Iowa, and he was very positive that it 



m'lean county. 207 

would be a great city in the future. The town was finally 
located and called Bloomington. Isaac Baker surveyed the lots 
and laid them out. It had been decided before this that the 
place should be a county seat. 

When the first Board of Commissioners of McLean County 
met, Isaac Baker was chosen clerk of the County Commissioners 
Court, which position he held for fifteen years. He was after- 
wards postmaster of Bloomington and held this office for some 
years, and "his old residence still stands on South Centre street, 
hard by which was the old post-office and which then marked 
the commercial center of the city." Dr. Baker helped in build- 
ing the first house put up in Bloomington, after it was laid out. 

While Dr. Baker was county clerk, some incidents occurred, 
which show how difficult it was sometimes to procure money. 
A young man, who wished to get married, made application for 
a license, but had no money to pay the fee. After some discus- 
sion Dr. Baker gave him a license, and the man promised to pay 
the fee in maple sugar in the following spring. It was a sweet 
transaction for all concerned. Another young man, who expe- 
rienced the same difficulty, promised to pay for his license in 
wolf-scalps. 

Dr. Baker was a liberal-minded man and would not allow 
anything like persecution or ostracism, if he could help it. At 
one time, a Mormon preacher wished to deliver a sermon, but 
the people refused to listen and seemed disposed to use violence. 
But Dr. Baker took the Mormon home and kindly cared for him 
and entertained him in the best of style, shod his horse, gave 
him money and sent him on his way rejoicing. 

The first Methodist conference was held in Bloominsrton in 
1836, and in this Dr. Baker took great interest. 

In 1853 or '54 he moved to Leroy, where he lived until the 
time of his death, which occurred April 28, 1872. 

He was married three times and his domestic life was always 
very happy. He married, the second time, Mrs. Ruth Green- 
man; the widow of John Greenman, and the third time, Mrs. 
]STancy Miller, a widow. By his first marriage he had eleven 
children. They are: Seth, Elliot, William, John, Susannah, 
Charles, Sidney D., Mary Ann, Solomon D., Hiram and Albert, 
By his second marriage he had two children : Laura W. and 
Julia A. Baker. 



208 



OLD SETTLERS OF 



The following description of Dr. Baker was written at the 
time of his death by one of his intimate friends, and was pub- 
lished in the Bloomington Pantograph : 

Dr. Baker was of medium height, and rather corpulent. 
Sidney Baker, Esq., of Leroy, is a very good type of what his 
father was in the days of his prime. Dr. Baker was a quiet, un- 
pretending man, and the honesty and uprightness of his charac- 
ter was never called in question. Such was the general conti- 
dence the people reposed in him while in office that he was 
consulted as an oracle, and his opinions taken for law. He was 
a man of literary taste and very extensive reading and informa- 
tion. Scarce^ any subject within the range of human investi- 
gation but had to some extent come under the knowledge and 
observation of Dr. Baker. He was communicative and interest- 
ing in conversation, and always impressed you with the sincerity 
of his opinions. He was a friend of peace and a lover of con- 
cord, and passed through his long life without having any trou- 
ble with his fellow-men ; and in addition to this he healed up 
the difficulties of others and poured oil on the troubled waters 
wherever he went. He was benignant and kind to everybody, 
but especially to the poor. The fatherless, the widow or the 
needy were never turned empty away from Dr. Baker's door. 
He believed in immortality and eternal life, and lived and died 
in hope through Christ of a brighter and more beautiful world 
beyond the grave. Thus after a long and eventful life of four 
score and nine years, the wheels of his mortal life stood still, 
and Dr. Baker passed over and now lives beyond the river. 
Peace to his memory here, and glory and immortality here- 
after. 

George Hinshaw, Jr. 

George Hinshaw, Jr., was born December 26, 1820, on a farm 
two miles from the town of Monroe, the county seat of Overton 
County, Tennessee. He came from old English Quaker stock, 
his ancestors having emigrated from England to Ireland at an 
early day and from there to America. The majority of his rel- 
atives are still Quakers, though Mr. Hinshaw does not belong to 
that honored sect. 



m'lban county. 209 

His father's name was George Ilinshaw, and his mother's 
maiden name was Susannah Johnson. Mr. Ilinshaw, sr., the 
father of George Hinshaw of whom we are writing, came to 
Blooming Grove, McLean County, Illinois, in July, 1827. He 
had visited Illinois during the year previous, in company with 
Stephen Webb (now living at Twin Grove), and had made a 
claim of some land on the Kankakee River not far from Joliet. 
But when the family moved to Illinois the country was very wet, 
and it was impossible to go up to the Kankakee. More than 
that, some difficulty had occurred between the whites at the 
mining country near Galena and the Winnebago Indians, and 
the settlers feared an Indian war in the northern part of the 
State. All of these considerations determined Mr. Hinshaw not 
to go up on the Kankakee. The weather during their journey 
was terrible, and they were seven weeks in traveling. It rained 
very hard and the whole face of the country seemed covered 
with water. They crossed the Sangamon River at Newcom's 
Ford, this side of Urbana, on a raft, which they were obliged to 
build. They were delayed there one week. When they came 
to Cheney's Creek, they had great difficulty in crossing, and 
stopped to camp, and there a great hurricane came near blowing 
their horses and wagon away. Mr. Hinshaw, sr., bought a claim 
of twenty acres with a cabin and growing crop, in the south side 
of Blooming Grove, and there he built a house. He gave a 
wagon and yoke of oxen, worth in all about fifty dollars, for his 
claim. Money was then scarce. The price of a good cow was 
only five dollars. When he settled in Blooming Grove the gov- 
ernment had surveyed the land, and shortly afterwards it was 
brought into market, and he bought two hundred and twenty 
acres for $1.25 per acre. This was all the money he had and he 
was thought to be rich ! At that time the Kickapoo and Potta- 
wotamie Indians were plenty, and both tribes lived together in 
friendship. But they moved West about the time of the Black 
Hawk war. The Indians were always ready to trade, and ex- 
changed buckskin and moccasins for pork, flour, tobacco, &c, «fcc. 
Mr. Ilinshaw thinks these savages very polite people. When 
they make a visit, only one talks at a time, and in this respect 
they differ somewhat from the ladies of a sewing circle or a mite 
society. But these barbarians resemble the ladies in one respect, 
* 14 



210 OLD SETTLERS OF 

they are fond of display and love jewelry and trinkets, which 
they wear in their ears and sometimes in their noses. The In- 
dians sometimes cultivated the ground and raised what they 
called squaw corn. This they buried in the ground when they 
went hunting in the fall, and sometimes did not dig it up until 
the following spring. They ground their corn by putting it into 
the hollow of a log and beating it with a pestle, as the settlers 
were obliged to do during the winter of the deep snow. 

The early settlers were generous and hospitable. The "latch- 
string was always out." They kept no locks on their doors, a 
simple wooden latch was used, but only for the purpose of keep- 
ing out the wind and storm. They were more sociable than 
people now, and were always anxious to help their neighbors. 
There was not so much hunting after money then, for they had 
little money to hunt after. A word was as good as a bond, and 
they had no promissory notes, no bills, no banks, no newspapers 
and very little news. A letter from Tennessee was four or five 
weeks on the road, and postage was twenty-five cents. 

Mr. Hinshaw went to school during the winter of the deep 
snow and spent his Saturdays in gathering corn and pounding 
it in a mortar. He thinks children learned more in those early 
da} r s in a given length of time than they do at present, for then 
the teacher made them fear the rod. 

Mr. Hinshaw has done his share of hunting, especially after 
wolves, which were a common pest. He has hunted them to- 
wards a pole put up in some central locality, when all the settlers 
would turn out from various parts of the country. 

Mr. Hinshaw has had his experience, too, with fires on the 
prairie. He remembers one hard experience when he was going 
to mill with oxen and was overtaken by a fire. He tried to 
drive his oxen through it, but they refused to face the flames and 
turned and ran away in spite of all his efforts. At last he saw 
a place where a part of the fire had gone faster than the rest, 
leaving a gap in the road. Into this gap he rushed with his oxen 
and got through. 

The year 1844 was the wet season. During that year he 
drove a herd of cattle from here to Milwaukee, Wiscon- 
sin. He swam creeks and rivers of all kinds and sizes. He was 
delayed at the Kankakee and was fifteen days in crossing it. He 



M LEAN COUNTY. 211 

frequently drove his cattle in the river, but when they struck the 
swift current they turned for the shore from which they started 
and came back. But at last he found a tall ox, which touched 
bottom, and went across, and the rest followed. Mr. Hinshaw 
lias had a varied experience with stock. About three years ago 
he went to Kansas and invested in Texas cattle with rather bad 
fortune. lie had one hundred and thirty head of cattle in the 
fall, and only fifty-three of them were left in the spring. The 
remainder died. 

Mr. Hinshaw has lived in Bloomington for about ten years, 
but he has owned a farm ever since he was twenty-five years of 
age. He now lives at Sulphur Springs, in the outskirts of 
Bloomington, on the Chicago &. Alton Railroad. 

Mr. Hinshaw was married July 1, 1848, to Polly Maria Toli- 
ver, daughter of James Toliver. He has had ten children, of 
whom four are now living. As to personal appearance he is tall 
and portly. When he was twenty-seven years of age he had a 
severe sickness, was ill for a long time with the typhoid fever 
and since then he has been very stout in appearance. He has a 
large head and a large brain; has small sparkling eyes, and a 
pleasant, genial countenance; he is full of fun and appreciates a 
joke. He has a firm, resolute character, combined with a mild 
and pleasant disposition. He is always ready to meet his friends 
with real English cheer, and indeed he appears a "fine old Eng- 
lish gentleman, one of the olden time." 

His children living are : 

Ida May, born January 1, 1857. 

Ezra, born July 11, 1862. 

Toby, born April 16, 1865. 

Rollo, born August 21, 1867. 

They are all living at home. 

Dr. William Lindley. 

William Lindley, son of John Lindley, was born November 
16, 1808, in Christian County, Kentucky. At the age of twelve 
he was apprenticed to learn the boot and shoe trade and worked 
at this until 1827. On the 26th of July, 1822, William Lindley 
married Unity Warren in Christian County, Kentucky. She 
was then only fifteen years of age. 



212 OLD SETTLERS OF 

111 the fall of 1827 he moved to Sangamon County, Illinois. 
There he raised one crop. In the fall of 1828 he came to Bloom- 
ing Grove in what is now McLean County, Illinois. He settled 
in the southern edge of the grove and commenced farming. 
The first divine service he attended here was held at the house 
of John Hendrix at Blooming Grove. The sermon was preached 
by James Latta. In November, 1828, he cast his first vote for 
General Jackson. The voting was then done by word of mouth 
as they had no tickets. He did his trading at that time in 
Springfield ; but after Bloomington came into being he bought 
his store goods there. He worked on his farm using the Carey 
plow with its iron shear and wooden mould-board. On his first 
arrival at Blooming Grove he worked for good wages, rather 
better than people could expect. He worked during twenty 
days receiving ten bushels of corn per day for his labor. He 
first entered eighty acres of land and gradually acquired more. 
Dr. Lindley followed farming until 1862. He then resided for 
a year in Bloomington. He then sold out his farm and bought 
another near by and has lived on it ever since. Dr. Lindley has 
always had a liking for horses, has done a great deal of trading 
and has studied the diseases to which horses are subject. By 
this means he has beeome a very skillful veterinary surgeon. 
He has been very fortunate in his treatment of horses and has 
acquired a considerable reputation. 

Dr. Lindley has had eleven children, but only four are liv- 
ing. They are : John, a physician, who lives at Clinton, Illi- 
nois; Stewart Lindley, who lives at Blooming Grove; Lucinda, 
wife of Walter Smith, who lives in Pike County, Illinois, and 
Robert, who lives at home. 

Dr. Lindley is about six feet in height, weighs about two 
hundred and ten pounds, has good eyesight, never wears glasses, 
has a rather heavy head of hair, which was rather light colored 
in his younger days, but now is turning gray. His beard is 
sandy. He is a well-formed, muscular man. He has succeeded 
in acquiring some property, but has lost a good deal of it, as 
people sometimes do. 

Hon. James Allin. 

James Allin was born January 13th, 1788, in North Caro- 
lina. When he was ten years of age his parents moved to 



m'lean COUNTY. 213 

Boone County, Kentucky. Young James bore all the hardships 
of travel manfully, riding over the mountains on horseback and 
sustaining all the perils of the journey. The family, after re- 
maining one year in Kentucky, moved across the Ohio River 
into Dearborn County, Indiana. Here young James lived, and 
in the year 1817 he did as all active, vigorous young men should 
do, got married to a kind and affectionate woman. Her name 
was Catherine Livingston. He has been blessed with seven 
children, three of whom are now living. Two years after this 
important event he moved to Edwardsville, Madison County, 
Illinois, where he remained until 1821, when he removed 
to Vandalia, which was then the capital of the State. In No- 
vember, 1829, he came to the present site of Bloomington, 
and moved his family there in the following spring. Mr. Allin's 
removal to Bloomington was not the result of accident but of 
calculation. He saw that a line drawn from the rapids of the 
Illinois River to Cairo would pass through Blooming Grove. It 
was also on a direct line from Chicago to Alton and St. Louis. 
He admired the country for its natural beauty and fertility, and 
it seemed to him that as the country grew in population and 
wealth a town situated in Blooming Grove would not fail to 
have before it a brilliant future. In March, 1830, Mr. Allin 
built the first house in Bloomington. It was a double log house, 
one part being used as a dwelling and the other part for a store. 
In the session of the Legislature of 1830 and '31 Mr. Allin suc- 
ceeded in getting a bill passed laying off the county of McLean. 
When the commissioners came to lay off the new county, Mr. 
Allin offered twenty-two and a half acres of land for a county 
seat. The offer was accepted and the county seat was named by 
him Bloomington. The twenty-two and a half acres given by 
Mr. Allin are bounded by Front and North and East and West 
streets. The first court held in Bloomington was at Mr. Allin's 
dwelling, the log house which stood in the edge of the timber, 
nearly opposite the present location of the First Presbyterian 
church. 

Mr. Allin was a man of business. He brought to Blooming- 
ton the first lot of goods and drove his business as a merchant, 
with great energy. His public spirit and his energy made him 
very popular, and in 1836 he was elected to the State Senate. 



214 OLD SETTLERS OF 

This election was afterwards repeated, confirming Mr. Allin's 
influence and popular strength. He died on the fifth of May, 
1869. 

James Allin was a man of medium stature ; in build he was 
slim ; his hair was light brown ; his eyes were gray and pene- 
trating in expression, but his eyesight was not good during the 
latter portion of his life, and he was obliged to wear spectacles. 
His complexion was healthy, but this was a deceptive appear- 
ance, as he was during his whole life a feeble man, and his 
health was delicate. He had extraordinary business capacity, 
and the energy and determination with which he followed out 
his plans were wonderful. The man's strength of will was once 
shown when his son William Allin was sick and not expected 
to live. Mr. Allin said to him : " William, I would not die if 
I were you, I would not give way." His public spirit, his qual- 
ities of heart as well as of head, will make him remembered as 
long as the city of Bloomington, which he founded, shall stand. 

The following is taken from the Bloomington Pantograph of 
an early date, and relates to an old settlers' dinner where James 
Allin was present : 

" Mr. Allin's health is poor, and he has never recovered from 
a fall on the ice which severely injured him about three years 
ago. He walks on crutches, and was assisted up stairs by two 
men. He was complimented by the speakers as the man whose 
superior foresight pointed out Bloomington as the site of a fu- 
ture city, when all around was an uncultivated wilderness. Ac- 
cording to what Governor Moore and Colonel Gridley said, Mr. 
Allin, in his younger days, was very much such a man as we oc- 
casionally hear of now in frontier places. 

" He used every honorable endeavor to induce emigrants to 
locate in this county. If they wished to settle in the new town, 
Mr. Allin would sell them lots at a low price, if they had money, 
and would sell them at a lower figure if they had little money, 
or would give lots outright if they had no money, always stipu- 
lating that improvements should be made. It was such unre- 
mitting care and exertions, which, in the course of a few years, 
gave this settlement a start that made it out of the question for 
any neighboring town to compete with it, and made it eventu- 
ally a point to be aimed at by railroads, which have now made 



m'lean county. 215 

Bloomington one of the thriftiest and best business places in the 
State. 

" It must have been a proud day to Mr. Allin to meet so 
many old friends and neighbors, not one of whom bears the 
slightest grudge against him, and to listen to such eloquent and 
appreciative tributes to his life-long; public spirit. With all his 
opportunities for building up a large fortune, Mr. Allin's valua- 
ble lands slipped from his hold in one way and another, to par- 
ties who could not or would not pay much for their lots, and to 
parties who afterwards speculated upon the rise of town lots, 
until when property came to be really valuable he had little left 
to sell. He, however, acquired a comfortable competency, so 
that his old age is pleasantly passing in the midst of a commu- 
nity he took such pride in drawing together. A more grasping 
man would have so hesitated to sell property that settlers would 
have been driven away, and a less honorable man, if he had 
made more money, would have had fewer friends in his old age. 
Bloomington owes a debt to Mr. Allin which it can never re- 
pay." 

William H. Allin. 

William H. Allin was born in 1818, in Indiana. When he 
was quite small his father removed to Vandalia, Illinois, where 
he remained until the spring of 1829, when he came to Bloom- 
ington, Illinois. Mr. Allin was a great favorite with all with 
whom he was acquainted. He was remarkable for his business 
talent, and he was pre-eminently remarkable for his honesty. 

One of his friends has happily described him thus: 

" Possessing naturally a strong and vigorous intellect, with 
good discriminating powers both as to men and measures, 
and with a large development of the moral faculties, he seems 
to have entered upon the active duties of life with the fixed 
purpose of hewing his way successfully through by an adher- 
ence to that great cardinal virtue, honesty, which is the only 
sure basis of ultimate success, and which was undoubtedly the 
leading trait of his character." 

Mr. Allin was remarkable not only for his honesty but for 
his energy. When he was only ten years of age his father sent 
him on horseback to Springfield to enter some land. At that 



21 6 OLD SETTLERS OF 

time the roads were scarce and the bridges were scarcer, and 
young William was sent across the prairie. It was necessary to 
do this, as his father had heard that a neighbor of his was try- 
ing to get the start of him, and enter the same land. Young 
William made the journey successfully, and entered the land. 
Just as he was coming out of the land office the rival neighbor 
met him and asked " how he got there?" Young William re- 
plied that he came across the prairie. The gentleman did not 
feel pleasant at being outwitted by a child ten years of age. 

In the year 1850, the Whigs of McLean County nominated 
Mr. Allin for the office of Circuit Clerk. At their earnest so- 
licitations he accepted the nomination, as it was impossible for 
them to agree on any other man, and he was elected. But after 
one year's service he resigned in favor of his brother, who was 
deputy. 

In the winter of 1838 Mr. Allin married Miss Judith A. 
Major, and his married life was remarkably happy. He was a 
kind and faithful husband and a loving father. 

Mr. Allin was a man of medium size, slenderly built, healthy 
complexion, rather light hair, sharp-pointed nose, and dark, pen- 
etrating eyes. He was very polite in his manners, and a favor- 
ite with all with whom he had anything to do. 

Jonathan Maxson. 

Jonathan Maxson was born June 11, 1820, on a farm about 
half a mile from the town of Freeport in Harrison County, 
Ohio. His ancestors were of Scotch, Irish and French descent. 
He was one of a family of ten children. His mother, whose 
maiden name was Sarah Kinsey, was twice married, and he had 
four brothers, two sisters and four half sisters. Jonathan was in- 
tended by his father to be a farmer, and while a little lad he 
learned the duties of that laborious but independent calling. 
Farmers' boys do not usually pine away for the want of work, 
and Jonathan could always find plenty to do. His education 
was not very well attended to, as educational advantages were 
not to be had where he lived. He went to school only two terms 
and learned to read and spell. Some time after the death of his 
father, David Maxson, his mother married a very worthy man 
named Jesse Hiatt, and moved to Clinton County, Ohio. Short- 



m'lean county. 217 

\y after this the family determined to move to Illinois;, and in 
the fall of 1830 started on their journey to Tazewell County, (of 
which McLean was then a part), as they had friends and rela- 
tives there. They went in two wagons, one under charge of 
Mr. Hiatt and the other driven by Christopher Kinsey, Jona- 
than's grandfather. They had also five hundred sheep and four 
milch cows. Their journey of two hundred and fifty miles oc- 
cupied twenty-one days, because of the difficulty in taking 
charge of their large flock of sheep. They camped out every 
night of their journey, except one, and by day they traveled 
from point to point without any road to guide them. It was 
necessary every night to guard the sheep from the wolves, but 
this was easily done as the frightened sheep huddled closely to- 
gether. The entire expense of the journey was ten dollars spent 
for food, which was less than a dollar apiece, as the caravan con- 
sisted of eleven persons. They had a very easy and pleasant 
journey, with no remarkable adventures. One of the party 
caught in the White River, with his hands, an eel about four feet 
long and weighing six pounds. It made a supper for the whole 
party. Jonathan says this is not a fish story. The party arrived 
at Stout's Grove on the twenty-first of September, 1830, but 
after a few days' of rest proceeded to Dillon's Settlement (now in 
Tazewell County). After spending two or three weeks in taking- 
observations of the country, Mr. Hiatt returned to Stout's Grove 
and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, (twenty acres 
under fence) with a log cabin, for four hundred dollars. One 
half of the farm was prairie and the other half timber. Here 
the family succeeded very well. Mr. Hiatt followed his trade as 
a blacksmith, and the boys attended to the farm, and they all did 
well. Jonathan went to school sometimes during winters, for 
five years. His teacher was Hosea Stout, the nephew of Ephraim 
Stout, the founder of the settlement at the grove which bears 
his name. The school was attended by thirty or forty children, 
who came great distances and boarded with the farmers near by. 
He also went to school to Richard Rowel! , a most excellent 
teacher from New England. 

Jonathan remembers some strange peculiarities concerning 
Ephraim Stout, the most eccentric man in that part of the coun- 
try. Ephraim Stout was a great hunter, greater than Nimrod, 



218 OLD SETTLERS OF 

or Esau, or Daniel Boone, indeed the latter had been a com- 
panion to Ephraim, and many were the stories told by him of 
their adventures together. When Ephraim was a young man 
he became married, of course, but no sooner had he done so than 
he regretted it bitterly; He loved his wife with all the love of 
a young husband, but he happened to meet with Lewis and 
Clark, government agents, who were going to explore Oregon 
Territory, and his marriage prevented him from going with them. 
Then there was wailing and gnashing of teeth, and he declared 
lie would give five hundred dollars to be unmarried ! (Some 
persons would give more than that). Mr. Maxson tells a curious 
story of the old hunter, showing his ingenuity. The hunter, 
with a party of men, went out searching for bee trees, and they 
had such luck that they filled their pots and pails and kettles 
with honey, and there were not enough to hold it all; and it 
seemed that they must leave a large part of it to be spoiled. But 
Ephraim's ingenuity never failed him ; he cut down a butternut 
tree, cut off a section in the shape of a cylinder, split it through 
the middle, made a trough of each half, hooped them together 
and had a water-tight barrel which he filled with honey. All 
this was done with an axe and a jack-knife. That was ingenuity. 
Ephraim Stout was a Quaker, and when he settled in Stout's 
Grove he thought he would make of it a Quaker settlement. 
He collected Quakers from far and near and everything seemed 
"merry as a marriage bell'' ; but in an evil hour he allowed 
Squire Robb, who was a Cumberland Presbyterian, to come in 
to the settlement. Now Squire Robb had married a daughter 
of a gentleman named McClure, and when the former settled in 
Stout's Grove the McClure family insisted on settling there too, 
and they were followed by some one else, and these by still 
others until that Quaker settlement was swallowed up, and the 
sonl of poor old Ephraim Stout was racked within him. He was 
accustomed to live in the wild woods, and did not like to see so 
many people around him. "When he was married he had prom- 
ised his wife that he would always live in the forest where she 
could pick her own fire-wood, and when so many people came there 
and broke up his Quaker settlement, he picked up his gun and 
all his hunter's accoutrements and started for Iowa Territory 
and then for Oregon. In 1880 he was an old man, leaning on 



m'lean county. 2l# 

his staff for support, and when he told the stories of his adven- 
tures with Indians and with all the wild animals of the forest, 
it certainly seemed that it was time for him to rest from his la- 
bors and live the remainder of his life in peace ; but there was 
no peace for him within the bounds of civilization, so he gath- 
ered together his worldly goods and went out to the still farther 
West. 

Jonathan Maxson never saw any candy until he was eighteen 
years of age. How terrible this must have been for a boy. 
People spun and wove their own clothing. A calico dress to 
wear on Sunday was a piece of unwarrantable extravagance. 
The family was always quite independent of the market. Their 
tea was made from roots and herbs, their sugar from maple Bap, 
and they kept twenty swarms of bees for honey. Jonathan 
Maxson states that during the winter of the deep snow (1830) he 
and his brother went out into the woods where it did not drift 
nor blow away and took a careful measurement of the depth of 
the snow with a stick and found it four feet deep. During the 
early part of that terrible winter deer were very numerous, but 
when the deep snow came they were starved and hunted by 
famished wolves and by settlers with snow-shoes, until they were 
almost exterminated. Shortly after the snow fell Mr. Jesse 
Hiatt killed a very large deer, which he was unable to carry 
home. He buried it in the snow and covered it with his coat 
to keep the wolves away. But the snow afterwards fell so deep 
that he was unable to visit the spot for two weeks. At last he 
put a harness on one of his horses and went to drag it home. 
On his return with the deer he killed three others and attached 
them also to his horse. But the load was so hard to drag that 
he did not return until late at night, when he found the fright- 
ened neighbors collected at his house, about to start on a search 
for him. They had collected on horseback with trumpets and 
horns and various things with which to make unearthly noises, 
and were no doubt disappointed to find that there was no occa- 
sion for their fearful shrieks. The remainder of the night was 
spent in dressing the deer. 

Some of their neighbors caught deer alive by putting on 
snow-shoes and running them down, but towards the latter part 
of the^winter they were so poor and emaciated that they were 
hardly worth catching. 



220 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Jonathan's stepfather, Jesse Hiatt, kept for a long time a gun 
which went through the Black Hawk war. The circumstances 
were these. At the outbreak of the Black Hawk war a man 
named William Anient resided near what is now the village of 
Bureau in La Salle County. He was informed by a friendly 
Indian that some Indians had determined to kill him and his 
family and burn his house. He at once took his family and 
what furniture and provision he could carry, to the house of his 
father-in-law, Jonathan Hodge, who lived in Stout's Grove. 
After staying there a fortnight Mr. Anient decided to go back 
and look at his property. His father-in-law went with him, and 
on the road they took with them about a dozen men. On ar- 
riving at the house they found everything untouched. They all 
had a good supper and discussed what, seemed to them to be the 
hoax played by the friendly Indian. The next morning the first 
man who stepped out of doors was shot. The party grasped 
their guns, and after reconnoitering found that some Indians, 
who had been concealed among some hazel bushes, had retreated 
leaving some blankets and two guns in their haste. The party 
returned, and when the news reached Stout's Grove a company 
of volunteers was formed under Captain McClure. The latter 
borrowed Mr. Jesse Hiatt's gun and carried it through the Black 
Hawk war, and when that exciting and troublesome campaign 
was finished, returned the gun to its owner. 

When Jonathan Maxson was eighteen years of age his step- 
father died and upon the former devolved the duty of overseeing 
the farm. For five years he was the head of the family, but at 
the end of that time the responsibilities of the farm fell upon 
the younger brothers, and Jonathan was married and had re- 
sponsibilities of his own. He married Amanda Curtis, the 
daughter of Squire Eber Curtis, on the sixteenth of April, 1843. 
He moved to Bloomington on the first of January, 1844, where 
he lived on a farm. 

Jonathan has been a foreman in a reaper factory for five 
years; he has been a carpenter, builder, millwright and now has 
the position of engineer and janitor in the Court House. He has 
had a family of eight children, two of whom are dead. 

It is very easy in this country for friends and relatives to be 
scattered about; some of Jonathan's relatives are here and 



m'lean county. 221 

others there, some are in South Bend, Indiana, some in Kansas 
and some in California. 

In personal appearance Jonathan Maxson is healthy and good 
looking. He is strongly built, is about five feet ten inches in 
height, has broad shoulders, pale blue penetrating eyes set wide 
apart showing his mechanical skill, his hair is dark and turning 
gray, and his head is a little bald on the top. In the evening 
when he reads and writes he wears spectacles. He enjoys the 
best of health and is a line specimen of the old pioneers. 

David Simmons. 

David Simmons was born July 15, 1802, in Monroe County. 
Virginia. His father's name was Ephraim Simmons, and his 
mother's name before her marriage was Elizabeth Calloway. To 
the best of his knowledge, his father was an American, and his 
mother was of English descent. When Mr. Simmons was about 
twelve years old, the family went to Ohio, then back to Nicholas 
County, Virginia, and from there to Cabell County, where old 
Mr. Simmons died. David Simmons was then only eighteen 
years of age, and had only five dollars and a half in his pocket. 
He moved the family to Decatur County, Indiana, where he re- 
mained nearly nine years. When he arrived there he had not 
five cents in his pocket. His mother was afterwards married, 
and he was at liberty to work for himself. 

On the 11th of November, 1824, he married Elizabeth Jones. 
He was not worth a hundred dollars. His wife had a cow. a 
spinning wheel and a bed. They took some of the feathers from 
their bed and traded them for three knives and three forks. 

In the fall of 1830 Mr. Simmons came to Illinois and arrived 
at the south side of the grove on the 7th of November. He 
traded his team, two yoke of oxen, his wagon and all of his 
money, except $2.15, for eighty acres of timber land with a 
cabin on it. He afterwards sold forty acres of timber for the 
purpose of entering prairie. But by reason of the Black Hawk 
war he wasted his money and was obliged to borrow and pay 
twenty-five per cent, interest in order to enter land. 

During the Black Hawk war Mr. Simmons was the third 
sergeant in Captain CovePs company. They went up to Dixon's 
Ferry, where the troops were for some days drilling and getting 



222 OLD SETTLERS OF 

themselves in order for fight. On the 13th of May, 1832, the 
troops started on the famous Stillman's Run expedition. Major 
(afterward general) Stillman had two hundred and six men with 
him, all told, according to Mr. Simmons. They went about five 
miles during the first day, to a little grove, and there camped. 
The next morning they traveled on until noon, when they 
stopped for dinner. Then the guard in front discovered mocca- 
sin tracks, and a false alarm was raised. The men jumped on 
their horses and ran up to the tracks, which were perhaps two 
or three miles from the place where they stopped for dinner. 
They rode very excitedly, and some lost their tin cups and other 
articles. The tracks were fresh and clear on a sand ridge, but 
no Indians were found. The men waited there until the baggage 
wagon came up. The baggage master had great difficulty in 
crossing sloughs with his heavy load in his little two-horse 
wagon, and it was therefore determined to lighten the wagon by 
issuing the ammunition and whisky to the men. The men filled 
their powder horns, and some of them tied up powder in their 
handkerchiefs. They filled their canteens and coffee pots and 
bottles with whisky, but were not able to take it all and left 
some in the barrel. Then they took up their line of march, and 
during the afternoon while on the route some of them passed 
along the line offering whisky out of their coffee pots to who- 
ever would drink, for it was as free as water and more plenty 
just then. 

They went into camp in the evening on the north side of 
Old Man's Creek, and hobbled their horses, and the advanced 
guard came in. Just then about ten or a dozen Indians ap- 
peared on a high hill about a quarter or a half a mile distant. 
The officers and men were inquiring what they were, and some 
thought it was the advanced guard. David Simmons said to 
Stillman : " No, the advanced guard came in a while ago. 
General, it's Indians." Then the men commenced catching their 
horses, and some started without putting on the saddles, and 
went at full speed to where the .little squad of Indians appeared. 
All the Indians retreated except two, who claimed to be Potta- 
wotamies. Covel then turned to Stillman and said : "It's all 
nonsense, they are friendly Indians," and said that enough of 
the boys had gone to take the others, as they were pursued by 



m'lean county. 223 

twenty or thirty men ; the two were then brought into camp, 
While the Indian prisoners were coming into camp they said : 
" Me good Pottawotamie," but pointed over the hill and said : 
" Heap of Sac." The Indians then offered to trade for a gun 
belonging to David Alexander, from Pekin, who was commis- 
sary. Then David Simmons brought out his double-barrel 
gun for the Indians to look at, and while they were poking their 
fingers first into one barrel and then into another, a man came 
running back at full speed, calling, " Parade, parade." Then 
the officers had their men formed into companies. David Sim- 
mons was ordered to guard the prisoners, but George "Wylie 
took his place. The men moved forward leaving the prisoners 
guarded in the rear. Before going far they met a few men com- 
ing in with an Indian prisoner. The twenty or thirty men had 
pursued the Indians and killed one and captured another. The 
captured Indian had fought hard, and Mr. Haekleton had been 
speared in the hands. The whites moved on, after sending the 
Indian prisoner to the rear. They went to where twenty or 
thirty whites were stationed, near a big slough, and there were 
told of an Indian who came out and offered his hand in friend- 
ship, and that McCullough extended his hand and snatched the 
Indian's gun. Mr. Simmons saw the gun, but did not see Mc- 
Cullough snatch it. McCullough snapped at the Indian, and 
Vandolah shot but missed. The officer halted and said that if 
the Indians did not want to fight they would not rush on them, 
but would see what the Indians did want. The officers then 
went on across the slough to the top of a bluff beyond. Then 
Gridley came back with orders to march across the slough, and 
the men started, and the officers came dashing back. Captain 
Eades of Peoria came riding up, and said he was not easily 
fooled, and that there were not less than a thousand of the In- 
dians. The. officers ordered the men to countermarch, and fall 
back across the slough. The front of the line obeyed orders, 
but the rear broke back ahead of those in front and made con- 
fusion. They went back across the slough to high ground, and 
there the officers tried to form a line, but the men were in poor 
order and in bunches, so that they could not shoot without hit- 
,ting some one in front of them. 

The Indians then began to pour out of the timber, and Mr. 
Simmons said it reminded him of the pigeons in Indiana flying 



224 OLD SETTLERS OF 

over one another and picking up mast. The Indians began firing 
and the flashes of their guns could be seen, as it was just be- 
coming dusky in the evening. The whites fired in return, but 
were so mixed up that some fired in the air, as they could not 
shoot ahead without hitting some of their own number. They 
were then ordered to retreat to their camp ground and there form 
a line. They went back on a gallop. Simmons and Coffey and 
Murphy agreed to go for Dixon's Ferry, when they arrived at 
the creek, Captain Covel tried to form the men on the north 
side of the creek; but an order was given to shoot the prisoners 
and go back across the creek and form a line on the other side. 
Mr. Simmons started for the lower crossing and met Jim Paul 
putting on his saddle and said to him : "What are you about?" 
He replied with an oath that he would have his saddle. When 
Mr. Simmons crossed the creek the whites were shooting at the 
Indians and the latter were shooting at the whites. Simmons 
went a little above the ford after crossing and stopped when a 
bullet whistled close to his ear. There was then the greatest 
confusion and yelling. Some were calling "halt and fight," some 
said "don't leave us," and some called "murder." But in a mo- 
ment or two an order was given to retreat to Dixon, and that 
order was obeyed. They took the trail back at the top of their 
speed. Some Indians came in on the left and tried to outflank 
the party, but the whites went too fast, and did not stop until 
they came to Dixon. The next day the greater part of the army 
went up to Stillman's Run and buried the dead. On their re- 
turn horsemen were sent down to meet the boats coming up with 
provisions, and their baggage wagons came up in a few days. 
The governor then started up the river with troops to fight the 
Indians, and left a part of the army to guard the families at 
Dixon. During that evening an express came from Ottawa 
asking for men. This express was sent on after the Governor, 
and he sent back an order for Colonel Johnson to take several 
companies and go on to Ottawa and build a fort, which was 
done. Covel and McClure's companies were among those that 
went to Ottawa. They started and camped within three or four 
miles of where the three families were murdered on Indian 
Creek, but knew nothing of the matter at the time. They went 
on to Ottawa next day and saw a little squad of whites. Each 



m'lban county. 225 

party supposed that the other were Indians, and stopped and 
formed lines, but discovered their mistake. The party was a 
squad of men going out to bury the dead at Indian Creek. 
They went on to Ottawa, where a great many families were 
gathered for protection. They built a fort there. Mr. Sim- 
mons and some thirteen others then came home, as they heard 
that the Kiekapoos in the rear were going to make trouble, and 
that the people were going into the forts for safety. A few 
days after this the troops, who had been called out for thirty 
days, were all discharged, Mr. Simmons among the rest. At 
Bloomington they had talked of forting, but had not done so, 
but at Pekin a fort was built. A company of rangers was form- 
ed for sixty days, to traverse the frontier of McLean County. 

Mr. Simmons has lived in Bloomington township ever since 
his first settlement here, living sometimes in town and some- 
times in the country. He still owns one hundred and eighty 
acres of land in the county. He also owns some city property. 
He was for a while supervisor of Bloomington township. 

Mr. Simmons has had ten children, of whom six are living. 
They are : , 

Levi Simmons lives on a part of the old farm. 

Annie, wife of Isaac Lash, lives in Hudson township. 

Margaret, wife of James Dozier, lives in Blue Mound town- 
ship. 

Benjamin Simmons lives in Missouri. 

David Simmons, jr., lives on the old homestead. 

Mary, wife of William H. Fielder, lives at Funk's Grove. 

Mr. Simmons is about five feet and ten inches in height, has 
a strong constitution, a sanguine complexion and light blue 
eyes. He is very muscular and one of the hardest of workers. 
His clear statement of the fight at Stillman's Bun is perhaps the 
best ever given of that celebrated affair, and its correctness may 
be seen at a glance. 

Hon. John Moore. 

John Moore was born on the eighth of September, 1793, at 
Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. He received but little edu- 
cation at school. Up to his fourteenth year he attended the 
common school, and all his subsequent education was obtained 
15 



226 OLD SETTLEKS OF 

by Btudy without a teacher. He often studied while at work at 
his trade as a wheelwright, keeping his open book on his bench. 
His parents, who were not well to do in the world, died when 
Mr. Moore was quite young, and he was left to take care of him- 
self. At an early age he moved to Bibsey (England) and was 
apprenticed to a Mr. Teesdale to learn the trade of wheelwright. 
The Spalding Free Press (English paper) says of him : " There 
are some now living in that village who well remember John 
Moore as an apprentice, and who can bear witness to his sterling 
good qualities as a young man at that time." 

In 1817 John Moore concluded to try his fortune in a new 
country. He came to America in a sailing vessel as our pilgrim 
fathers did a great many years before. He was three months 
on the way, but at last the vessel came into port. He settled 
first in Virginia but remained there only a short time when he 
removed to Har/ison, Hamilton County, Ohio. Here he began 
to work at his trade as a wheelwright on his own account. 

On the ninth of March, 1820, he married a widow, Mrs. 
Misner. She was a Kentucky lady and had one child, a daugh- 
ter, with her at the time of her marriage with Mr. Moore. Mr. 
Moore has had a family of eight children, five sons and three 
daughters, and of these three sons and one daughter are now 
living. 

In October, 1830, Mr. Moore came to McLean County, Illi- 
nois, and settled on a farm at Randolph Grove. There he en- 
tered forty acres of land and did some farming and worked at 
his trade. He often bought land but never owned any large 
tracts. He was always ready to sell, especially to his old friends 
who came with him from Ohio. In 1831 William Lindley, one 
of the old settlers, proposed that Mr. Moore should be elected 
justice of the peace because he had made himself already quite 
popular. This was the first office Mr. Moore held. In 1835 he 
was elected to the legislature, which then held its sessions at 
Vandalia. In 1839 he was elected to the senate of the State and 
in 1840 was chosen lieutenant governor of Illinois. This office 
he held up to 1846 when the Mexican war broke out. As he 
had strongly favored the war he enlisted as a private in the 
fourth regiment of Illinois volunteers. He was almost immedi- 
ately chosen lieutenant colonel, and when the army took the 



m'lean county. 227 

field ho participated with it in several engagements. He was 
at Rio Grande, Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo. When he returned 
from the Mexican war the State of Illinois presented him with 
a sword to show its appreciation of his distinguished services. 
This sword is now in the possession of his son Enoch J. Moore, 
and of course is prized very highly. This sword bears the fol- 
lowing inscription : 

" Presented to Lieutenant Colonel John Moore by the State 
of Illinois for his services during the late war with Mexico and 
especially for his gallantry at the battle of Cerro Gordo." 

In 1848, on his return from Mexico, Mr. Moore was appoint- 
ed treasurer of the State of Illinois by Governor French to fill 
the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Milton Carpenter. At 
the expiration of the term in 1850 Mr. Moore was elected to 
hold the same office and was re-elected in 1852. In 1854 he was 
again a candidate but was beaten by James Miller on account of 
an absurd prejudice, which was felt at that time by many against 
foreigners. Being an Englishman by birth Mr. Moore was 
obliged to suffer. It is a matter of pride to his friends to know 
that his reputation for ability and honesty was as high as ever. 
In 1853 Mr. Moore was appointed by Governor Matteson to in- 
vestigate and settle the difficulty between the firm of Thompson 
& Foreman and the State of Illinois, growing out of a contract 
by which the English firm was to deliver to Illinois a certain 
amount of railroad iron. This difficulty was arranged by Mr. 
Moore to the entire satisfaction of all parties. He was one of 
the trustees of the Illinois Central Railroad up to the time of his 
death which occurred on the twenty-third of September, 1866. 
His death was occasioned by a surgical operation performed upon 
his eyes for cataract. The operation gave such a shock to his 
system as to cause his death. 

Some queer incidents are related of Mr. Moore when he was 
beginning his public life. When he was first proposed as a 
candidate for justice of the peace Mr. William Lindley said of 
him that he was a "pretty piert fellow and guessed he'd do." 
When Mr. Moore was a candidate for the legislature his oppo- 
nent was Judge Davis. At one time Davis was asked what his 
chances for election were. He answered that he expected to be 
defeated because Mr. Moore could adapt himself to the different 



228 OLD SETTLERS OF 

classes of the people. If he met some Methodists he could pray 
with them, and if anyone in the neighborhood became sick and 
died Mr. Moore could make a coffin for him ! 

During the winter of the deep snow, which was the first of 
Mr. Moore's settlement in Illinois, he went every day to Mr. 
Randolph's house and obtained corn which he pounded into 
hominy on shares (one-half). He endured the privations of the 
early settlers and was as cheerful as the bravest among them. 
The first elegant team which he drove to town was a yoke of 
oxen, but when he attended the legislature he had become 
wealthy enough to go on horseback ! 

Mr. Moore was about five feet and ten inches in height and 
was heavily built; a few years previous to his death he weighed 
about two hundred and thirty-eight pounds. His shoulders were 
broad and his carriage erect. His hair was orange color and 
was turned a little gray; his nose was aquiline and his com- 
plexion was fresh and healthy. His health was remarkably good 
which no doubt contributed to his cheerful, happy disposition. 
A lady friend thus describes him : " He was a large, fleshy man, 
very refined in his feelings, and especially so in the society of 
ladies. He was too large to be graceful, but he was above all 
things a good man." An old friend speaks of him thus : " He 
was a man of naturally great force of character. He was an 
honest man, and the State of Illinois never had a more faithful 
guardian of her interests. His ability to remember and his 
powers of conversation were wonderful. Although his educa- 
tion at school had been neglected he read a great deal and could 
tell what he had read in a pleasant way. He was a fine presid- 
ing officer and the chair of the senate has never been filled by a 
more accomplished parliamentarian." 

Governor Moore made no pretensions to great oratory, never- 
theless he was an effective public speaker when occasion called 
him out. At his death his remains were brought from Boston 
to the old burying-ground at Randolph's Grove. The funeral 
nervices were conducted by Rev. Dr. Ballard and were attended 
by Judge Davis, General Gridley and many other old citizens. 

Amasa C. Washburn. 

Amasa C. Washburn was born May 25, 1807, on a farm, in 
Putney township, Vermont, His ancestors came from England. 



m'lean county. 229 

He was the only son, but he was by no means at a loss for play- 
mates, as he had four sisters. lie was educated in Putney, that 
is, he attended a common school there until he was eighteen 
years of age. At that time he started on his career as a school- 
master, and taught school in various districts in Vermont for 
twelve dollars a month and boarded around. 

After having taught for live years in Vermont and New York 
he determined to come West. He went to Albany, New York, 
where he met a company of about thirty persons, bound for the 
West, and joined with them. On the fifth of May, 1831, the 
party went aboard of a canal boat for Buffalo, and Mr. Wash- 
burn was fairly started on his way to the Great West. The 
journey was interesting and full of adventures. Mr. Washburn's 
trials began at the start. There was very little room on the 
canal boat for the party to lie down at night, so they took turns 
in sleeping. They arrived at Buffalo on the fifteenth and the 
next day started for Detroit in a steam-boat. The steamboat was 
crowded. Mr. Washburn slept during the first night on some 
trunks, and the second night on deck on buffalo skins, with 
some others of the party. About two o'clock in the morning it 
began to rain, and the party were drowned out. That night 
they came to Cleveland and the next day started out for Detroit 
but put back on account of high wind. A second time they 
started, although the wind blew violently. The boat rolled fear- 
Fully and the women and children on board were sea-sick. They 
arrived at Detroit on .the nineteenth. Here a part of the com- 
pany, among whom was Mr. Washburn, hired three wagons and 
teamsters and eight horses to carry them to Chicago, but after 
they had been for some time on their journey the} r changed their 
minds and went down the St. Joseph River. They started on 
the twenty-fourth of May. During their journey they fared 
very hard and their horses fared harder. On the second night 
the poor brutes ate up a part of the side-board of one of the 
wagons. The party had many difficulties in passing through 
sloughs, swamps and creeks, and sometimes they were obliged 
to lift the wagons out of the mud. When they came to the St. 
Joseph River, near Montville, they dismissed their teams, 
bought two log canoes, lashed them together, put their baggage 
aboard and started down stream. They went down sixty miles 



230 OLD SETTLERS OF 

and then had their canoes and baggage transported by land six 
miles across to the Kankakee River. This stream was small, 
crooked and narrow, and after one day's sailing down it they 
were almost in sight of their starting point. The country was 
desolate and marshy, and when they touched the banks with 
their poles they were usually saluted with rattlesnakes. During 
the evening of the third of June they came to where the river 
widened into a lake, and as darkness approached they were lost, 
and clouds of mosquitoes surrounded them, and it seemed as if 
their troubles all came at once. But they built a fire and drove 
off the insects, and were made to feel that they had at least 
some company, for the croaking of bullfrogs on every side was 
varied by the squealing of wild geese. At last they found where 
the lake became narrow and the river flowed on. But they 
could not land because the banks were lined by thick grass, 
which prevented them from coming near the shore. Soon after- 
wards the wind arose and the waves rolled hisrh. In the morn- 
ing the wind became more violent and drove them on with 
fearful velocity, and it required all their skill to save themselves 
from upsetting. About noon they were soaked through and 
through by a thunder storm. Towards night they entered a 
lake and became lost a second time. The lake was full of trees 
that grew up out of the water. But after some difficulty they 
found their way out and came to where the stream was narrow 
and rapid. Here they ran against breakers (trees in the water) 
but happily found a shore where they could land. On shore 
they were saluted by the howling of wolves in all directions, 
which did not make them at all cheerful. On the sixth of June 
they killed a deer, and felt very much encouraged. In the after- 
noon tbey saw half a dozen Indians, the first they had encoun- 
tered during their journe}^. They sailed nearly all night being 
aided by an extraordinary light which appeared in the West. 
Mr. Washburn said it made him think of the pillar of fire which 
guided the children of Israel. On the eighth of June they came 
very near being shipwrecked by the high winds and the large 
waves. At night they tied up to some small bushes by the shore 
and made their supper of slippery-elm bark, as their provisions 
were now almost gone. On the next day they mixed a little wheat 
flour (the last they had) in water and divided it among the party. 



m'lban county. 231 

This they ate at three different times. In addition to this they 
had only a few roots and some shoots of grapevines and briers. 
That day they passed several rapids and many dangerous shoals, 
sand-bars and rocks. At one time they ran against a rock in 
rapid water and were pressed against it sideways ; they became 
free from the rock, but had only time to turn their craft straight 
with the current when they went over some falls a few rods 
farther down. Soon after this they came to what appeared an 
inclined plane. The water ran swiftly, and after descending for 
about a hundred rods, the stream united with the Desplaines 
River, and formed the Illinois River. In the evening they spread 
out their buffaloes and tried to get some sleep. But they were 
wet through again and again by successive showers, and could 
do nothing but stand around the fire. In the morning they 
started on and came in sight of some Indian wigwams. They 
learned from the Indians that there was a white settler five or six 
miles below and they joyfully started on. About eight o'clock 
they "heard the lowing of cattle and the crowing of roosters." 
At a log hut they obtained some milk and hasty pudding. They 
passed the dangerous rapids of the Illinois River, and came in 
the evening to a house where they received hospitable enter- 
tainment. On the tenth of June they passed the Fox River and 
went to the head of steamboat navigation, a little below the 
mouth of the Vermilion River. From there they went to Bai- 
ley's Grove where the company wished to settle. 

On the eleventh Mr. Washburn started in a wagon for Fort- 
Clark (Peoria), where he arrived on the evening of the twelfth. 
The next day was Sunday, and there being no church to attend, 
Mr. "Washburn listened to the preaching of a man called Live 
Forever. This old gentleman had made appointments to preach 
five hundred years in the future. He said it was not God's in- 
tention that man should die, but, if they would exercise faith in 
Christ, they might live on the earth during all eternity. 

On the fourteenth Mr. Washburn walked to Pekin, and there 
learned that a school teacher was wanted at Blooming Grove. 
Going back to Fort Clark he expected to take a stage, but being 
disappointed, started for Blooming Grove on foot, and arrived 
there on the seventeenth of June, 1831. By the twentieth he 
had obtained enough scholars at two dollars per quarter to com- 



232 OLD SETTLERS OF 

mence teaching, and on that day he opened school in a log hut 
with '.'no floor, no door, and a crack all round." In the after- 
noon he chose his boarding place with Mr. William Lucas, for 
which he was to pay thirty-seven and a half cents per week. It 
was the best house in the neighborhood, but it contained only 
one room, and in it lived Mr. Lucas and his wife, ten children, 
three clogs, two cats, and the school teacher ! On the twenty- 
sixth Mr. Washburn opened a Sabbath-school at Mr. Lucas' 
house ; it being the first ever held in Blooming Grove. He was 
very much shocked at the ignorance of the children with regard 
to religious matters ; one little boy declared he had never heard 
of such a being as God. 

The crowded condition of Mr. Lucas' house made things ap- 
pear a little strange, sometimes. He had a daughter about 
eighteen years of age, who received a great deal of attention 
from a young man in the neighborhood. He made lengthy visits 
sometimes, and as the house contained only one room the lovers 
got their stools together and carried on their conversation in 
whispers. Sometimes the young man stayed all night and, when 
he did so, the school teacher was somewhat wakeful ! On one 
occasion Mr. Washburn heard the Lucas children discussing 
among themselves as to which they preferred should marry their 
sister, the young man or the school master, and the school mas- 
ter received the most votes. But the fates decided that neither 
of them should have her. 

The country was wild and game was plenty. There were 
prairie chickens and deer and wild turkeys. On one occasion 
Mr. Lucas killed a deer without stepping out of the doorway. 

In September, 1831, the Methodists held a camp-meeting at 
Randolph's Grove, which Mr. Washburn attended. The ser- 
mons preached at this camp-meeting were more remarkable for 
force than elegance. One of the preachers enumerated the of- 
fences which they should beware of, and spoke of the liar and 
said that to "be a liar was to act the part of a poor, mean, black 
devil, and for any one to be a devil was degrading!" Another 
preacher wished to have something done for the children and 
thought he must alarm the parents on the subject; he said : 
"How sportive they are in vice, and you often laugh instead of 
weep ; the devil has got your children, the fiend of hell has got 



m'lean county. 233 

them and is leading them captive at his will and you smile !" 
The next day Mr. Latta preached, and made .some very queer ob- 
servations. He said : "There is a certain class of people who 
cannot go to hell fast enough on foot, so they must get on their 
poor, mean pony and go to the horse-race ! Even professors of 
religion are not guiltless in this respect, but go under the pre- 
tense that they want to see such or such a man, but they know 
in their own hearts that they went to see the horse-race!" But 
he preached a strong sermon, and when he was through one man 
jumped up and said he was as light as a feather, another 
clapped his hands and went around shaking hands with every- 
one ; some laughed, some cried, and some shouted. Reverend 
Peter Cartwright then arose and said, he had been requested to 
preach a funeral sermon but would say what he pleased. He was 
peculiarly severe on Eastern men because of their low opinion 
of Western intellect and Western character. He said : "They 
represent this country as being a vast waste, and people as being 
very ignorant, but if I was going to shoot a fool I would not 
take aim at a Western man, but would go down to the sea-shore 
and cock my fusee at the imps who live on oysters !" But his 
sermon had a great effect and he concluded by giving a descrip- 
tion of the glories of heaven. When he finished, some people 
fell down, some screamed, the children were frightened and Mr. 
Washburn says that he never before heard such a noise and saw 
such confusion. The camp-meeting was a great success and, it 
is to be hoped, did great good. 

Mr. Washburn continued teaching and charged as quarterly 
tuition two dollars per scholar. But he was usually obliged to 
take his pay in chickens or calves, or some kind of "trade." In 
December, 1831, he began teaching in the town of Bloomington. 
Here it had been the custom of the scholars to study their les- 
sons as loudly as they could shout and this was the custom 
everywhere, for parents thought this the only way children could 
learn. Mr. Washburn, after teaching in Bloomington for three 
months in this manner, told the parents he would do so no 
longer. He convinced them with great difficulty, but had his 
own way at last. 

On the fifteenth of April, 1833, Mr. Washburn started for a 
visit to his native home in Vermont. On the twenty-seventh he 



234 OLD SETTLERS OF 

arrived at Chicago and put up at Beaubien's Tavern. He said 
that at that time he "considered Chicago a very important sta- 
tion." On the twenty-eighth, which was Sunday, he w r as 
shocked to see people go about their common business. A large 
number were engaged in shooting pigeons in the streets of the 
town. (Was this their common business ?) On the thirtieth he 
visited the place where the soldiers of General Scott's army who 
died of the cholera the year previous, were buried. It is said 
that one poor fellow, who was detailed to dig graves, cursed and 
swore a good deal ; he was taken with the cholera that day and 
died before night, and was buried in one of the graves which he 
himself had dug. On the first of May Mr. "Washburn went 
aboard of a sail vessel for Detroit, which place he reached on 
the evening of the ninth. On the eleventh he started for Buffalo 
on the boat, Sheldon Thompson. The crew got to racing with 
another vessel and were much the worse for liquor, but they 
came safely to Buffalo on the eighteenth. He started for Al- 
bany by canal but walked the last thirty-three miles of the way. 
He went by steamboat to Troy, and walked from there to his 
old home in Vermont, a distance of eighty-six miles and — found 
that his father had sold out and moved away. On the twenty- 
seventh he found him and the whole family, all well. On the 
fifteenth of August he married Miss Paulina Parker. On the 
twenty-seventh he started for the West. 

Mr. Washburn was a very religious man, and about this 
time he read one quite remarkable passage in a book called 
''Flavel on Keeping the Heart," which made a serious impres- 
sion on him. "A man had taken great pains and made great 
efforts to amass wealth, and had been very successful. He had 
only one son, and this property was all designed for him. 
When the old gentleman was laid on his death bed he called 
his son to him and asked him if he loved his father. The son 
replied that the bonds of nature, as well as the kind indulgence 
he had met with obliged him so to do. Then, said the father, 
manifest it by holding your finger in the candle while I say a 
Pater Noster. The son made the attempt, but could not endure 
the pain. The father replied : " I have risked my soul for you 
and must burn in hell forever, instead of a finger in a candle 
for a few short moments." 



m'lban county. 235 

Ver}' little of importance occurred on their journey home. 
At Chicago they found a great many Indians who had come 
there to make a treaty with the government and get their pay 
and go to the far West. While coming from Chicago to Bloom- 
ington Mr. Washburn had very little adventure ; he was once 
soaked with rain, and the teamster was at one time incautious 
enough to break a wheel, but these were trifles. At Blooming- 
ton he began teaching once more. On the thirteenth of July, 
1834, r Mrs. Washburn, who seems to have been a very amiable 
lady, died. 

In the spring of 1834, Mr. Washburn taught school at 
Buckles Grove, nearLeroy, but returned to Bloomington in the 
fall, where he has resided ever since. On the thirtieth of Sep- 
tember, 1834, he was elected Secretary of the McLean County 
Bible Society, and agent for the purpose of distributing Bibles. 
He was very active in the work. In 1835 he was appointed the 
agent of the American Sunday School Union for Illinois, and 
worked to establish Sunday-schools all over the State. 

On the thirtieth of April Mr. Washburn married Ann 
Packard, who has since shared with him the difficulties and 
trials of pioneer life. From the year 1835 to 1843, Mr. Wash- 
burn followed various pursuits. For a while he kept a meat 
market. He kept the first regular provision store in Blooming- 
ton, and continued in that business for twenty-five years. In 
1868 he retired from business. 

Mr. Washburn was one of the eight members who organized 
the First Presbyterian Church. This was in 1832. In the 
spring of 1833 he organized the first temperance society in Mc- 
Lean County. In 1833 the first Sabbath-school in connection 
with this church was organized with from fifteen to twenty-five 
scholars, but now it has from a hundred to a hundred and fifty. 
He has always been connected with schools and churches. His 
seven friends who worked with him to organize the church are 
now all dead, and the pastor, too, has long since joined the 
church above. Mr. Washburn is about five feet six or eight 
inches' in height. He is very muscular, and has all his faculties 
unimpaired. He has a very honest looking countenance, and is 
a man of sincere piety. His hair is a little white and the crown 



236 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of his head is rather bald. He never meddled with politics, has 
always lived very quietly and has " done unto others as he would 
have others do unto him." 

Dr. Stephen Ward Noble. 

Dr. Noble was born at North Bend, Hamilton County, Ohio, 
March 9, 1826. He came to Illinois with his parents in the fall 
.of 1831, and settled at Randolph's Grove. He obtained his 
schooling there, and there began the study of medicine with his 
uncle, Dr. Noble, under charge of Dr. Colburn, of Blooming- 
ton. At the age of twenty he took his first course of lectures 
at the medical institute at Cincinnati. He afterwards attended 
another course, and in 1849 commenced practice as a physician 
in Leroy, in partnership with Dr. Cheney. 

He married February 21, 1854, Miss. Amanda M. Greenman, 
daughter of John Greenman, of Leroy. It was a very happy 
marriage. Four children were born, of whom two are living. 
The}' are : 

Frank Noble, born December 8, 1854, died in infancy. 

Mary D. Noble, born December 14, 1859, lives with her 
mother. 

Carrie Noble, born June 4, 1864, died in November of the 
same year. 

Nellie Ward Noble, born March 27, 1871, lives at home. 

Dr. Noble died of consumption in 1871, and was buried in 
Bloomington Cemetery. He had moved to Bloomington in 1865. 
He was about five feet and ten inches in height, was squarely 
built, but rather stoop shouldered. He had dark brown hair and 
almost black blue eyes. He was a very popular man, and very 
successful in his profession. He was several times President of 
the McLean County Medical Society, once President of the 
Medical Society of the State, and frequently a delegate to the 
Medical Society of the United States. He was a very kind 
husband and father, and is remembered by the friends who 
knew him and delighted in his society. 

Abraham Stansberry. 

Abraham Stansberry was born June 19, 1807, on a farm 
about thirteen miles from the town of Greenville, in Greene 



m'lean county. 237 

County, Tennesse. His ancestors were of German and Welch 
stock. He was one of a family of fifteen children, eleven boys 
and four girls, all of whom grew up to manhood and woman- 
hood. Eleven are now living. The youngest son served in the 
army for three years ; after receiving his discharge, and while 
on his way home, he visited an old mill, and was there killed by 
the rebels. 

Abraham's education was not very extended. He was 
obliged to work very hard, and attended school very little, and 
when he did so he had a much more thorough acquaintance with 
the schoolmaster's rod than with his books. The schoolmaster 
thought a great deal of his rod, and used what was called leath- 
er-wood, which grew in the clefts of the rocks. This wood was 
very tough and pliable and made a barbarous instrument of tor- 
ture ; but the schoolmaster was obliged to tlog unmercifully in 
order to keep up his reputation as an excellent teacher. 

When Abraham was about seven years old his father died, 
and his mother took charge of the farm. When he was twenty- 
two years of age he was a strong, healthy man and loved horses 
better than books. He wished to go West and lead an active 
life, where his vigorous nature could have play. Although only 
a young man, he did not wish to live in a slave state, and could 
plainly see the evils brought about by this system. He said it 
resulted in forming three distinct classes, those who owned 
slaves, those who were rich, but owned no slaves, and the pool 
whites, who had neither negroes nor money. All these causes 
induced Mr. Stansberry to leave for the West. He had heard a 
great deal of Illinois through various pamphlets setting forth its 
fine climate and rich soil. He started as the driver of a live- 
horse team for a man named Henry Pain, who emigrated with 
his wife and seven children to the Vermilion and Big Wabash 
Rivers. Mr. Pain left for Illinois because he was anxious to 
have his family grow up in a free state. The journey lasted forty- 
three days, and it rained almost incessantly. They first came to 
Bear Station, in Tennessee, from there to the Clinch Mountains, 
crossed the Tennessee River, went to Cumberland Gap, crossed 
the Cumberland River, went to Crab Orchard in Kentucky, then 
to Danville, then to Louisville, crossed the Ohio to New Albany 
and went to Salem, thence to Greencastle, thence to Blooming- 



238 OLD SETTLERS OF 

ton, Ind., and to Rockville. Between those places they crossed 
Salt Creek by putting their wagon in canoes lashed together, as 
the creek was high. Although it was rainy, Mr. Stansberry en- 
joyed the trip, as there were two young ladies in the family, and 
of course they made matters pleasant for him. They crossed the 
Big "Wabash about six miles from Rockville and went to New- 
port on the Little Vermilion, and from there to the town of 
Eugene, the point of destination. There Mr. Pain expected to 
find a brother who had lived in the place some time before, but 
his brother had died a short time previous to Pain's arrival. 
Abraham celebrated his first year in the West by working on a 
farm, but from the fall of 1830 to the spring of 1832 he carried 
the mail between Eugene and Fort Clark (Peoria). He traveled, 
on an average, fort} r -five miles per day, and could make the trip 
to Fort Clark and return in seven days. At that time the 
streams were not provided with either bridges or ferry boats, 
and Mr. Stansberry was obliged to cross them by tying his 
clothes and mail bag to his shoulders and swimming over with 
his horse. He often met Indians on his route, and they were 
always glad to see him. He had three stations where he stayed 
over night on his journeys ; these were Ponge Station, Cheney's 
house and Robert McClure's house. The number of letters 
carried varied from one to a dozen. Postage was twenty-five 
cents per letter. Mr. Stansberry received for his services twelve 
and one-half dollars per month. 

On the sixth of June, 1832, Mr. Stansberry married Mary 
Cheney. He had formed her acquaintance while carrying the 
mail. He lived on a farm in Cheney's Grove until the year 
1864, when he moved to Bloomington. He has' had two chil- 
dren, a son and a daughter, who both grew up to years of dis- 
cretion, but both are now dead. But he has three grandchil- 
dren who will inherit his property. His son died while fighting 
in the army. His wife died of consumption on the ninth of 
August, 1866. 

When Mr. Stansberry commenced farming at Cheney's 
Grove, he entered thirteen hundred acres of land, a part of 
which he sold for twenty-three dollars per acre, a part for thirty 
dollars and his timber land for fifty dollars. He afterwards 
bought three hundred and twenty-four acres, which he has di- 
vided into three farms. 



m'lean county. 239 

On the twenty-seventh of April, 1869, Mr. Stansberry mar- 
ried Mrs. Matthews, a widow lady, a daughter of Esquire Robb. 
She is one of the most agreeable of women, and has that polite- 
ness of the heart, which comes from wishing well to others. 

Mr. Stansberry never held a public office, and never sought 
one ; he was an " old line Whig," and is now a Republican. He 
is a man of medium stature, strong and well proportioned, his 
hair is light brown, turning gray. His eyes are gray and he 
wears spectacles when he reads or writes. He was always very 
fond of horses and greatly enjoyed riding. During the fall of 
1827 he rode to Tennessee on horseback, and returning brought 
his mother and niece to Illinois in a carriage. Afterwards three 
brothers and three sisters came to the West, and one brother 
and three sisters are still living at Cheney's Grove. 

James 0. Harbord. 

James C. Harbord was born in Wayne County, Kentucky, 
December 16, 1803. His ancestors were of English and Irish 
stock. When James was about six years of age his father emi- 
grated to Indiana, where he lived until October, 1832. His 
education was limited. He went to school in Indiana, but the 
educational advantages were poor and he received very little 
benefit from his schooling. He remembers clearly the war of 
1812 and some of the incidents connected with it. The Indians 
took advantage of the unsettled condition of affairs to make 
their stealthy attacks upon the isolated settlers on the frontier, 
ami he remembers clearly the terror inspired by their ravages. 
.Many of the settlers fled across the Ohio River into Kentucky. 
During the war a company of soldiers were forted near the 
house of Mr. Harbord (the father of James). This company 
visited different parts of the eountry at different times, and did 
its utmost to protect as large a district as possible. In 1824 Mr. 
Harbord came to Illinois to look at it, and see what its prospects 
were. He found one house about six miles this side of the pres- 
ent city of Danville, but with that exception the country bound- 
ed by Danville, Blooming Grove and Peoria was a wild and 
dreary wilderness without any settlement to relieve the monoto- 
ny or cheer the traveler. The powers of nature were wasted. 
The rich soil sustained only the prairie grass, which afforded a 



240 OLD SETTLERS OF 

cover for rattlesnakes, and in the fall the fire swept over it and 
made desolation more desolate. He visited Blooming Grove, 
Stout's Grove, Twin and Dry Groves, but no settlement was 
found in any of these places. He laid a claim in Twin Grove 
on what is now known as the old Dan Munsell farm. Some 
time afterwards his uncle came on and took up this claim. Mr. 
Harbord also bought a farm of Major Baker. Upon this land 
was a mill for grinding wheat, built by Major Baker in the fall 
of 1830. It is still a great curiosity and shows what can be done 
in case of necessity. The stones in this mill were made of the 
hard "nigger heads," that are found on the prairies. They 
were made into the shape of a coffee-mill, and while in motion 
the lower stone was the one that revolved. It ground wheat 
very slowly, but the settlers came to it from twenty-five miles 
around, as the nearest mill besides this one was at Springfield. 
The mill was not long in use, but soon was superseded by others 
with more modern improvements. The farm on which the old 
mill stands lies about four miles south of Bloomington and still 
belongs to the Harbord family. 

After visiting various points in his tour of 1824 Mr. Harbord 
returned to Indiana, and being a sensible man, got married. 
This event occurred on the twenty-seventh of January, 1825. In 
October, 1832, he came to McLean County, Illinois, and settled 
on the south side of Twin Grove on a place now known as the 
Johnson place. 

Every old settler has something to say of the schools in early 
days. The first school-house at Twin Grove was in the middle 
of the grove. It was a round-log house with a door cut through 
it, greased paper for windows, and a fire-place which extended 
across one entire end of the building. It had a puncheon floor 
and seats made of hewed logs with legs to them. 

The court house is described b} 7 Mr. Harbord as a little, old, 
struck-by-lightning looking building (it really was struck by 
lightning), but the justice administered within its walls was very 
substantial, and many of our modern communities would be 
glad to take that old court house, if they could have the justice 
which was obtained within it. 

In 1832 the State was Democratic, but Mr. Harbord was an 
uncompromising Whig. He voted, for the first time, for Johti 



m'lean county. 241 

Quincy Adams and for every Whig afterwards nominated, and 
since the demise of the Whig party, for every Republican candi- 
date for president until 1872, when he was too unwell to attend 
the polls. His sympathies were for the re-election of President 
Grant. 

After coming to the country in 1832 Mr. Harbord lived for 
seven years at Twin Grove and then moved to a farm which he 
purchased in the southeast part of Blooming Grove. There he 
lived for twenty-nine years when he removed to Bloomington 
where he resided until his death, which occurred on the eighth 
of March, 1873. 

Mr. Harbord related some strange experiences with regard 
to the prices paid for produce during the early settlement. 
Everything the farmers produced was sold cheap, and for every- 
thing they bought they were obliged to pay dear. During the 
year &1840 or '42 (Mr. Harbord cannot remember precisely 
which) the farmers of Blooming Grove became much dissatisfied 
with the prices paid for pork by Depew & Foster, who were 
dealing in that line and who bought and shipped farm produce. 
So dissatisfied were the farmers, that they clubbed together and 
took their pigs to Chicago and obtained for them one dollar a 
head ! Mr. Hiram Harbert sold seven hogs for three dollars ! 
They had better have dealt with Depew & Foster. The latter 
firm broke up in their attempt to give the farmers good prices. 

Every old settler has a particular experience to relate con- 
cerning the sndden change in the weather, which occurred in 
1836. One day, during the latter part of December, it had been 
raining, and the good house- wives were anxious to catch as 
much water from the eaves of the house as possible. Their tubs 
were full when a gust of wind came from the North, and Mr. 
Harbord says it was so intensely cold that the water in the tubs 
froze almost immediately ; the change took place instantly. Such 
a phenomenon has never been known before or since. During 
the winter of 1842 and '43 scarcely any snow fell and the ground 
became so deeply frozen that winter weather did not break up 
until in April. Farmers often struck frost while ploughing on 
the north sides of fences in the early part of May. 

Mr. Harbord has had eleven children, of whom four are 
living : 

16 



242 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Martha A. Harbord was born January 21, 1827, and was 
married to John Wesley Walker, August 17, 1848. Mr. Walker 
was born in Sangamon County, January 9th, 1819, and while }^et 
a boy moved to McLean County with his father. He died Jan- 
uary 1, 1858. He never was out of the State of Illinois. 

Moses G. Harbord was born July 3, 1837. He lives near 
Portland, Oregon. He married Jane Price, the daughter of 
George Price, and has four living children. 

George W. Harbord was born October 22, 1840, lives in 
Pettis County, Missouri ; he has a wife and three children. 

Manila Cassandra Helen Harbord was born September 22, 
1846. She was married to James A. Hunt, and died July 8, 
1873. 

One may read the foregoing sketch of Mr. Harbord without 
obtaining much of an idea of his character. He was very de- 
cided in his opinions and had that fine feeling and sense of honor 
for which so many of our early settlers were distinguished. He 
was tall and somewhat slenderly made, and his appearance and 
expression showed his honesty and uprightness. 

The orthography of Mr. Harbord's name has been the sub- 
ject of some discussion, and he has near relatives who spell their 
name "Harbert." It seems that one of the ancestors of the fam- 
ily unfortunately was obliged to sign his name by making his 
mark, and as other parties wrote the name as it happened to 
sound, it became signed to various documents in different ways. 
His descendants did not agree upon any one signature and con- 
sequently spell their names differently. 

The greater part of the items of this sketch of Mr. Harbord 
were given by him a short time before his death, which occurred 
March 8, 1873. He was then so sick as to talk with difficulty, 
but the spirit of the man was as firm and honest as ever. It 
seemed to afford him great satisfaction to know that he was to 
be remembered, and indeed he well deserved to be, for this 
world is made better by the examples of men, who by honest 
labor have triumphed over all of their difficulties. 

Ephraim Platte. 

Ephraim Platte was born in Monmouth County, Xew Jersey, 
September 22, 1804, near Barnegat Inlet. His father, Jonathan 



m'lean county. 243 

Platte, was of French descent and his mother, whose maiden 
name was Emilia Brindley, was of English. Jonathan Flatte 
was a sailor and owned a small trading vessel. At the opening 
of the war of 1812 his vessel was three times intercepted by the 
British and once was stopped, while he had a cargo of pig-iron 
covered with lumber. The iron was afterwards melted into 
cannon balls. Mr. Platte's vessel was at last burnt by the 
British, bu1 he was allowed to go. Nearly all of his property 
was invested in this vessel, and when it was burnt he went into 
the service of the United States. He was a lieutenant under the 
command of Col. John Fieldenhousen and was stationed at 
Paulus Hook, near New York. At the close of the war he 
bought a vessel, with which to engage in the coasting trade, as 
before. When Ephraim Platte was ten years of age he was ap- 
pointed a cabin boy. But Mrs. Platte did not wish the family 
brought up in that way, as she did not believe the morals of the 
children would be improved by a life on the Avater. She in- 
sisted that the family should try their fortunes in the West, and 
her influence prevailed. In 1816 the family went to Green Coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, and there worked a farm for two years. Then 
they moved to Licking County, Ohio. 

Ephraim Platte married on the 15th of December, 1824, 
Susan Platte, a distant relative, in Licking County, Ohio. In 
the spring of 1833 he came with his family to McLean County, 
Illinois. During that year he traveled from Bloomington to Fox 
River and made a claim ou Indian Creek. There he intended 
to settle. On his travels nearly every family he saw was stricken 
down with fever and ague. Mr. Platte's wife died December 11, 
1838, and his youngest child died a few weeks previous. Mrs. 
Platte was a remarkably good woman, very amiable in her dis- 
position and anxious to please. She died on Money Creek and 
was buried at Haven's Grove. Her death changed the plans of 
Mr. Platte. His two children were sent back to Ohio. In the 
fell of 1836 he came to Bloomington and worked at the carpen- 
ter's trade. This has been his business principally ever since. 

Ephraim Platte married Mrs. Sarah Woodson, March 7, 1837. 
She was a widow and had four children. She is still living and 
the marriage has been a very happy one. 

Jonathau Platte, the father of Ephraim Platte, died in about 



244 OLD SETTLERS OF 

the year 1849 in Washington, Tazewell County. After his death 
his wife received a pension. This continued until her death, 
which occurred in 1860. She had then reached the age of nearly 
eighty-four years. Of her family of ten children, four boys and 
two girls grew to manhood and womanhood. At present only 
two are living, one besides Mr. Platte. 

Ephraim Platte had six children by his first marriage, but 
only one is living. This is Calvin W. Platte who now resides 
in California. He was a soldier in the Mexican war. By his 
second marriage Ephraim Platte has had seven children, of whom 
five are living. They are : 

Susan, wife of John R. Stone, lives in Bloomington. 

Charles D. Platte lives in Bloomington and is foreman of the 
establishment of Gillett & Case, jewelers. He was a soldier in 
the army during the rebellion, served first under the call for 
three months. He enlisted in the Thirty-ninth Illinois and 
served during the war, was wounded in the left shoulder and 
yet carries the ball. He was in many of the great battles on 
the James River. 

William H. Platte was a soldier in the Fiftieth Illinois Vol- 
unteers and was discharged on account of disability. Pie died 
in Arkansas near Little Rock. 

Albert L. Platte lives in Bloomington. 

Maria, wife of Louis A. Burk, lives in Bloomington. 

George D. Platte lives at home. 

Ephraim Platte is about five feet and seven and one-half 
inches in height and weighs about one hundred and ninety-eight 
pounds. He has a sanguine complexion and white hair and 
beard. He was never much of a speculator, has had property, 
which is now very valuable, but he did not keep it, as he had 
no idea that Bloomington would grow to its present proportions. 
He was a warm supporter of the Union cause during the rebel- 
lion and wished to enter the army, but age prevented. Mr, 
Platte possesses a great deal of mechanical talent, and his son, 
Charles D. Platte, is very much like him in this respect. The 
latter is a skilled workman in Gillett & Case's establishment and 
his skill really amounts to genius. Ephraim Platte is very libe- 
ral in his religious belief, but insists on strict morality. In poli- 
tical matters he was originally a Jackson Democrat, afterwards 



m'lean county. 245 

a Free Soiler, and was a member of the Republican party when 
it was organized. 

Hon. James B. Pkice. 

James B. Price was born July 24, 1792, on a farm in Meck- 
lenburg County, North Carolina, about fifteen miles from the 
town of Charlotte. His father was Welch and his mother 
Irish. In 1804 his father emigrated to Kentucky. Mr. Price's 
life has been the life of a hard-working farmer, with plenty of 
work, and otherwise not very eventful. He heard a great deal 
of the beauty and fertility of Illinois, and obtained a book 
which particularly set forth the advantages of this territory. It 
told what reliable people and good neighbors the Indians were, 
&c, &c, and when Mr. Price read this book he at once decided 
to come to Illinois. 

He visited Illinois every year from 1829 to 1833, when he 
moved here with his family. During his visit in 1829 he bought 
a claim consisting of a log house and a few acres of land, and 
on his road home he stopped at Vandalia and entered one hun- 
dred and sixty acres. He came to Illinois to settle in 1833, with 
his brother-in-law. Mr. Price entered a good deal of land at 
various times, worked hard, raised stock, and throve well. 

Mr. Price assisted in organizing McLean County, and has 
fulfilled his duties as a citizen in a public capacity as well as in 
private. He has been School Commissioner and School Treas- 
urer for many years. He served one term in the Legislature, 
at Springfield, in 1849 and '50. He was then fifty-seven years 
of age. During that session he assisted in getting the Illinois 
Central Railroad bill passed. Stephen A. Douglas made two 
great speeches in favor of it. It was during this session that 
General Shields and Sidney Breese had their great contest for 
the United States Senate, which resulted in the election of 
Shields. 

Mr. Price lives two miles southeast of Bloomington, on the 
Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway. When he came 
there he found only a few families, the Rhodes family, the Oren- 
dorff, the Hendrix and the Baker families. He was always on 
good terms with the Indians, and sympathized with them very 
much. He says that when they were paid oifaud moved West, 



246 



OLD SETTLERS OF 



many of them passed his house and wept bitterly at the thought 
of leaving. This was before Mr. Price settled in Illinois in 
1833. 

Mr. Price received his little schooling in North Carolina and 
Kentucky, and it was little enough. His study and application 
certainly did not drive him into consumption. He appears like 
a man southern born, is about six feet in height, and walks erect. 
He is somewhat hard of hearing, but all his other senses are 
good. He has always been very honest in his dealings, is very 
kind-hearted, and would not knowingly injure the smallest crea- 
ture. He looks as if he would live another ten years. He is 
much respected, and is almost worshipped by his grand- 
daughter and her husband, who keep house for him. 

He married, February 10, 1814, Mary H. Wall. It was a 
remarkably happy marriage, and both parties possessed always 
the confidence and respect of each other. They had five chil- 
dren : 

George Price, whose sketch appears in this work, lives, on his 
farm, next adjoining that of his father. 

Eobert D. Price was born April 5, 1818, and died September 
27, 1842. 

John Price, whose sketch is in this volume, now lives in 
Bloomington. 

Rachel C. Price was born October 25, 1825. She was mar- 
ried first to Dr. Short, of Bloomington, and after she became a 
widow she was married to Mr. Dent Young, who lives now 
on the plains near Cheyenne. She is now dead. 

Charles Luther, who is unmarried, lives with his father. 

George W. Price. 

George W. Price was born October 3, 1816, on a farm in 
Warren County, Kentucky, ten miles east of Bowling Green. 
His ancestry was Welch and Irish. He received the usual edu- 
cation of those days, that is, was sent to school three months in 
the year until he arrived at the age of seventeen. 

In the year 1829 his father, James B. Price, moved three 
families from Kentucky to Missouri, in a four-horse wagon. On 
his return he visited the country around the present city of 
Bloomington, as a sister of his wife lived there. The soil pleas- 



« m'lean county. 247 

ed him so well that he bought a claim consisting of a log house, 
log stable, and one hundred and sixty acres of laud. He re- 
turned to Kentucky, and on his way he entered the land at the 
office at Vandalia. In 1833 he sold out in Kentucky and came 
to Illinois. He now lives, at the age of eighty-one, on the land 
he first entered. He has bought much land since that time, 
principally timber. He brought with him from Kentucky two 
whipsaws, which were put to good use by George Trice and his 
brother Robert. These young men sawed by hand from two to 
three hundred feet of lumber per day. At one time, in a race, 
George Price and a negro sawed two hundred feet of white 
walnut lumber in five hours and seventeen minutes. From No- 
vember, 1833, to November, 1835, he helped to saw thirty-two 
thousand feet of lumber ; but by this time the steam-mill was 
built, and the whip-saws were hung up to be kept as relics of 
early days. After the building of the steam mill, Mr. Price 
went into partnership with Mr. Platte in making chairs and other 
furniture. 

On the sixth of April, 1836, before George Price was twenty 
years of age, he started on horseback for Warren County, Ken- 
tucky, to attend to that most important matter, his marriage. 
The horse he used had never been ridden before without throw- 
ing the rider, and when he mounted the animal it made power- 
ful efforts to unseat him by jumping stiff-legged and kicking 
and springing, but at last became subdued. During the evening 
of the first day he came to Salt Creek, and found it overflowed, 
but crossed in a canoe, swimming his horse. He then attempted 
to replace the saddle, which he had taken off, but the horse was 
cold and frisky, and sprang in every direction. At last he tied 
the horse between the forks of a tree which had fallen, and sad- 
dled and mounted the animal. Then it commenced bouncing 
and jumping stiff-legged, but at last became quiet and he pro- 
ceeded. The next day he crossed the Sangamon River. On the 
night of the eighth occurred a great rain storm; the sloughs became 
creeks and the creeks rivers. In the morning he started, and at 
one place he traveled six miles with the water from six inches to a 
foot and a half in depth. He kept the road by the dead weeds, 
which stood high on each side. He swam two creeks that day, 
becoming w r et to the waist. In the afternoon the weather be- 



248 



OLD SETTLERS OF 



came very cold and snow fell fast and thick, and Mr. Price lost 
his way in the blinding storm. But at night he came to the 
house of a " down-east " Yankee, who took care of him in the 
kindest manner. He received the best in the house, a brandy 
stew and some dry clothes. During that night a man died of cold 
near Farmer City. In the morning the ground was frozen hard 
and Mr. Price went on to the Wabash, over which he was fer- 
ried by a woman, Mrs. Taylor. The boat was leaky, but Mr. 
Price bailed for life, and for the handsome young lady in Ken- 
tucky. Towards evening Mr. Taylor came home, and Mr. Price 
stayed there overnight. The latter climbed up a ladder, and made 
his bed in the loft of the house. Soon after he retired he was 
awakened by the fall of his saddle stirrup on the floor of the 
room below. He looked through a crack and by the dim light 
of the fire place he saw Taylor trying to pick the lock of his 
saddle bags. He sprang up, and Taylor immediately hung up 
the saddle and jumped into bed. Mr. Price kept a sharp look- 
out during the remainder of the night, as he had fifty dollars in 
silver money in his saddle bags. In the morning Taylor acted 
as though nothing had happened, and charged only thirty-seven 
and one-half cents for entertainment. He directed Mr. Price to 
William's Ferry, on the Big Wabash. Mr. Price was told to 
take the right hand road ; but when he came to the forks he con- 
cluded to take the one on the left. After going twelve miles 
he made inquiry at a house, and was told that the right hand 
road led far from the true direction, and was simply a wood 
road. He learned, too, that Taylor was a dangerous character, 
and probably had his own purposes in view in attempting to 
mislead the traveler. Mr. Price went on to Williams' Ferry, 
which he crossed with great difficulty in a ferry-boat. As the 
boat left the shore the overhanging branches of a sycamore came 
near brushing his horse into the water ; but the intelligent ani- 
mal laid down in the boat and went under the limbs of the tree. 
After crossing he went to the Ohio River at Mt. Vernon, In- 
diana. The river was overflowing and large trees were carried 
down by the current. He went up twelve miles to find a ferry, 
and came to a little village, where the people were all on a spree. 
But eight men were hired to take him across. They had a boat 
which they worked with four oars and four pike poles. After 



m'lean county. 249 

drifting down the stream four miles the boat was landed on the 
Kentucky shore. There they found the bank twelve feet high, 
very difficult for the horse to climb ; but it was taken up by 
passing a rope around it and pulling, while the horse scratched 
and scrambled. The eight ferrymen received a dollar in silver, 
with which they could enjoy themselves on a spree for some 
time ; for a little money in those days would buy a great deal of 
whisky. He went from there to Bowling Green, Kentucky, 
and on the road met his intended father and mother-in-law, 
Jesse Adams, F. R. Cowden, and John Price, who were travel- 
ing to Illinois. He stayed with them over night and went on the 
next morning bright and early. He " steered for the object of 
his visit, about fifteen miles away, and at about ten o'clock his 
object saw him alight at the gate and walk to the front door." 
This was on the twenty-third of April, 1836. On the fifth of 
June his intended father and mother-in-law returned, and on the 
fourteenth of that month he married Matilda B. Prunty, an old 
schoolmate. On the thirteenth of September following he 
started back to McLean County, in a two-horse wagon. He 
crossed Mud River, Kentucky, by swimming his horses and taking 
the provisions and wagon in a ferry-boat. The boat sank when 
it reached the western shore, but the wagon was drawn out after 
great exertions. At Shawneetown he had great difficulty in 
crossing the Ohio River on a horse ferry-boat, but at last suc- 
ceeded. He went on to Saline River, near Equality, and found 
the stream very high and no ferry. He took off his goods, tied 
the wagon box down firmly to the running gear, tied some of 
his goods to the top of the box, and went across, swimming the 
horses. He made five trips, and on the last one brought over 
his wife. He then went to the Sangamon River. A heavy rain- 
storm came up during the night before he crossed it, and it was 
very high. He unloaded his goods and swam back and forth 
with one horse, carrying a bundle of goods above the water 
each time. The most difficult bundle to transport was a feather 
bed with fifty-four pounds of feathers. When his goods were 
across he hitched up his wagon, put in his wife, and came across. 
On the third of October, 1836, he arrived safely home. He was 
occasionally serenaded on his journey by the howling of wolves, 
but did not mind them much. 



250 OLD SETTLERS OF 

George Price worked for his father for two years after his 
marriage, and then built himself a house, where he now lives. 

On the twenty-sixth of December, 1836, occurred the sudden 
change in the weather, when, Mr. Price thinks, the mercury 
must have fallen from forty degrees above zero to twenty de- 
grees below in less than fifteen minutes. The ground was cov- 
ered with a slush of water and snow, and suddenly a wind came 
from the west, a fine flour of snow fell to the ground and the 
cold became most intense. By the time Mr. Price could run 
two hundred yards to his house, the slush was so frozen that it 
bore his weight. The change was so sudden and severe that 
some geese, which had been playing in a lot near by; had the 
points of their wings frozen in the ice and it was necessary to cut 
them loose. 

The first tax paid by Mr. Price was in the spring of 1839, 
and it amounted to $1.57. He paid, up to the year 1861, in the 
aggregate, $885.49, but during the last twelve years he has paid 
$3,741.19, and he thinks this has been due, in some measure, to 
the Republican administration. 

Mr. Price has been a life-long Democrat. He voted for 
Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, General Cass, Franklin 
Pierce and for James Buchanan under protest (Douglas was en- 
titled to the nomination). Mr. Price voted for Douglas in 1860, 
with a good will, in 1864 for McClellan under protest, and in 
1868 for Seymour under protest. Mr. Price thinks the Demo- 
cratic party has been sold out by August Belmont on two dis- 
tinct occasions, and that it is now time for the latter gentleman 
to retire from politics altogether. 

Mr. Price has had fourteen children, of whom ten are living, 
five boys and five girls. They are : 

Ann, born February 22, 1840, wife of Stephen Triplet, lives 
in Normal. 

Hetta, born September 22, 1841, wife of George Horine, lives 
in Bloomington. 

Jane, wife of Moses G. Harbord, born February 8, 1845, 
lives in Oregon. 

Chase Price, born September 24, 1846, lives at home. 

Belle, born September 13, 1848, wife of John M. Payne, lives 
in Oregon. 



m'lean county. 251 

Scott, born March 23, 1854 ; Ada, born January 12, 1856 ; 
Perry, born May 25, 1858 ; Minor, born March 12, 1861, and 
Frank Price, born August 6, 1863, live at home. 

George Price is of medium height, is strongly and squarely 
built, has black hair and beard, though slightly sprinkled with 
gray. He seems to enjoy the best of health, and the physicians' 
bills he has paid on his own account cannot have been many. 
He has been very upright in his dealings and careful in the man- 
agement of his property, and as a result has succeeded remark- 
ably well in life. "Fortune favors the brave," and Mr. Price's 
success has undoubtedly been greatly due to his pluck. Not 
many men would face the storms and swim the creeks and rivers 
as he did, though his accomplished lady was in every way worthy 
of his exertions. His lady, Mrs. Price, who came on the ro- 
mantic wedding journey from Kentucky, is a woman of fine taste 
and quick perceptions. 

John J. Price. 

John J. Price was born April 13, 1823, ten miles east of Bowl- 
ing Green, in Warren County, Kentucky. His parents were 
of Welch and Irish stock. He had three brothers and one sister, 
and of these, two brothers, George and Charles Luther are living. 
John J. Price was brought up to be a farmer. His father's fam- 
ily came to Illinois, October 15, 1833, and his father still resides 
where he then settled, about one and a half miles southeast of 
Bloomington. John J. Price worked for his father until the former 
was twenty-one years of age. He then began life on his own ac- 
count. He traded in stock and horses and drove them to Chi- 
cago. For the last eighteen years he has been engaged in 
buying and shipping grain, principally for the Eastern markets. 
During 1852 and '53 he was engaged in the boot and shoe busi- 
ness, but with that exception has been engaged as before stated. 
He served one term as Sheriff of McLean County, being elected 
to that office in 1854. 

On the 15th of January, 1857, he married Miss Henrietta 
Oluey, a very amiable lady from Joliet. While he served aa 
sheriff no very remarkable circumstance happened. The people 
of the West were at that time more free-hearted and credulous 
than at present ; and if the sharpers and confidence men, who 



252 OLD SETTLERS OF 

are so numerous now, had operated in the early days they would 
have secured a harvest. Occasionally they did appear. It became 
Mr. Price's duty to arrest one such gentleman on a requisition 
from the Governor of New York, and the young swindler, who 
appeared so handsome and gay, was obliged to serve a term in 
Sing Sing. While Mr. Price was sheriff he was also collector 
of taxes in the county. The taxes amounted to a little more 
than $100,000 per annum. The collector visited the various pre- 
cincts of the county, giving notice of his coming by advertise- 
ments. In each precinct he remained one day to receive the 
taxes due. His pay for collection was nearly four per cent., and 
the office was worth about three thousand dollars per annum. 

Mr. Price is a shipper of stock, and has had a great deal of 
experience with railroads. He thinks the farmers who are con- 
tending against the railroads should do the work thoroughly or 
not at all ; for if it is only half done the railroad officials become 
more extortionate than before. They allow no accommodations 
to shippers, and when special rates are asked for, the officials 
say: "Go to the Grangers." 

Mr. Price has had a pleasant life. His early days were 
marked by the incidents usual to early settlers, but he did not 
have so hard a time in finding a wife as his brother George ex- 
perienced. The latter was obliged to brave many storms and 
hair breadth escapes and swim many rivers to obtain his bride. 
J. J. Price did nothing of the kind, but his wife thinks it would 
have been very beneficial to him to have had such an experience. 
It would have called out his resolution, and he would have ap- 
preciated his lady much more. 

John J. Price is of medium stature, has broad shoulders, is 
verj- active and has never been sick. He has an aquiline nose 
and sharp, penetrating eyes. He is a good business man, leads 
an active life, and is on the trains every day. All his senses are 
good and he bids fair to lead a long and busy life. 

Lewis Bunn. 

Lewis Bunn was born September 16, 1806, on a farm in Wal- 
nut Creek Township in Boss County, Ohio, about four miles 
from the town of Delphi. His father, Peter Bunn, was a farmer 
and land speculator; he was a Pennsylvania German, while his 



m'lean county. 253 

mother was an English lady. Lewis Bunn was one of twenty- 
one children ! His father was twice married. From his first 
marriage sprang eight children, and from his second, thirteen. 
Lewis was the youngest but three. 

Lewis received his scanty education in a school formed by 
the farmers who clubbed together and hired a teacher, to whom 
they paid three or four dollars per quarter and board. Such a 
schoolmaster usually taught during the winter months and 
worked a farm in summer. The school-houses were simply log 
cabins. When Lewis was seventeen years old his school days 
ended. He had then acquired very little knowledge, indeed the 
chance for acquiring knowledge was very limited. At the age 
of eighteen he was sent to Chillicothe, and apprenticed for four 
years, to learn the trade of blacksmith. He learned his trade 
rapidly and well, but he was not satisfied with his education, 
and took private lessons in his leisure moments. When his ap- 
prenticeship was ended he moved to Clark County, Ohio, where 
he stayed three years. 

In 1831 he was married to Margery Haines, of Xenia, Ohio. 
His marriage was a happy one, and was blessed by the birth of 
five children, three boys and two girls, four of whom are now 
living. His wife afterwards died. 

In 1833 he moved to Bloomington, Illinois. Here, in 1846, 
he married Lucinda Blewins. By this marriage he has had five 
children, all of whom are dead. When he came to Bloomington 
he followed his trade and continued at it until 1859, when he 
retired from business. Immediately upon his arrival at Bloom- 
ington he connected with his trade the manufacture of agricul- 
tural implements, and in those days he was enabled to make this 
quite a profitable business. Oliver Ellsworth, who died about a 
year ago, was for eighteen years Mr. Buun's partner. Their 
ploughs, which they made by hand, were in great demand and 
were called for even from Texas. They bore the trademark of 
Bunn & Ellsworth, and are still well spoken of. The price of 
one of their ploughs at that time was eleven or twelve dollars, 
while a plough made by machinery at the present time costs 
from twenty-two to twenty-four dollars. Mr. Bunn thinks this 
remarkable difference is due partly to the high price of labor, 
and partly to the high price of steel. A carpenter earned in 



254 OLD SETTLERS OF 

those days one dollar per day ; at present he earns from three 
to four dollars. The steel used by Bunn & Ellsworth was Ger- 
man and American, while that used at the present time is cast- 
steel. They formerly obtained their steel from St. Louis whence 
it was shipped to Pekin by water, and from there it was brought 
overland to Bloomington ; but when the Illinois River was low 
it was hauled here from St. Louis, a distance of one hundred 
and seventy miles. It cost for hauling this distance from seven- 
ty-five cents to one dollar per hundred pounds, and after all of 
this trouble and expense the ploughs were sold for eleven or 
twelve dollars apiece. 

Mr. Bunn came to Bloomington with his brother-in-law, Dr. 
Haines. The town was then two years old. At first he did uot 
like the country, it seemed so wild and naked, and in nearly 
every log cabin some one was shaking with the ague. The popu- 
lation was very sparse and the conveniences of life were want- 
ing. If a farmer lost a screw from his plough he was obliged 
to travel sixty miles (from Bloomington to Springfield) to get 
the little matter fixed. Lewis Bunn did all the blacksmithing 
for forty miles around, with three fires. He was quite skillful 
in mending the little breaks and doing the job work, and could 
make any thing from a horse shoe nail to a mill spindle. 

Although Mr. Bunn was not a man of much speculation, he 
saw many ups and downs. Fortunes in the West were some- 
times easily made and much more easily lost, but Mr. Bunn 
preserved his independence and usually stuck to his trade ; al- 
though it was rather black business it brought shining dollars. 

In 1833 Bloomington had about one hundred and fifty in- 
habitants. The best business lots were then selling for fifty 
dollars. He bought one where the hardware store of Harwood 
Bros, stands for fifty dollars and sold it for one hundred. It is 
now worth three hundred dollars per foot without any improve- 
ments. But the changes in value in Bloomington are scarcely 
to be noticed compared with Chicago. On the west side of the 
river in Chicago some lots were traded for a horse worth fifty 
dollars. The same lots are now worth one million two hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars. In 1833 corn sold for ten cents per 
bushel, oats for eight cents and wheat for thirty-one cents. Flour 
was $1.50 per hundred and pork $1.25. Wood was one dollar 



m'lean county. 255 

per cord and coal 12} to 16 cents per bushel. In early days 
everything was unsettled. Prices were sometimes very high 
and sometimes very low; people became suddenly rich and sud- 
denly poor. Everything was changing. The spirit of enter- 
prise was great and people would be willing to do a great deal 
to accomplish a very little. 

Sometimes the early settlers went to law. People will do so 
occasionally, though they do not as a usual thing, get rich by it. 
I have heard of a couple of worthy citizens who spent two or 
three hundred dollars a piece in a suit for the' possession of a 
calf not worth five dollars. Lawyers are not generally very 
modest in charging their fees. But Mr. Bunn tells some queer 
things of the fees charged by Lincoln and Douglas. Abraham 
Lincoln received the highest fee known to have been paid to a 
lawyer in Illinois. The Illinois Central Railroad Company 
thought their lands should be exempt from taxation. Lincoln 
was employed for the company and won the battle and received 
five thousand dollars as his fee. This was pretty large, but on 
the other hand lawyers' fees were sometimes correspondingly 
small. Mr. Bunn once employed Stephen A. Douglas in a case 
against Col. Gridley. Douglas came all the way from Spring- 
field, made a first-class speech, won the case and charged for his 
services five dollars ! 

As to personal appearance Lewis Bunn is five feet ten inches 
in height. He is well formed and of good muscular develop- 
ment. The latter is due to his occupation. He has a very 
peaceable disposition, a very even temperament and does not 
easily get excited. He is fond of fun and practical jokes. He 
has a genial, healthy countenance, though his eyes are rather 
weak, probably made so by working at the forge. He is natur- 
ally a peacemaker and is glad to say that he never struck a man 
in his life and never ran away from one. 

William C. Warlow. 

William C. Warlow, son of Benjamin Warlow, was born 
June 8, 1817, in Oneida County, New York. The family came 
to Bloomington on the 10th of October, 1833. During the first 
night of their arrival they went to see a prairie fire, where the 
postoffice now stands. From Bloomington they went to Diy 



256 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Grove, where his uncle, Jonathan Bond, entered land. Mr. "War- 
low lived with his father on the farm working faithfully. Mr. 
Warlow, sr., entered land at Brown's Grove and moved there. 

On the 31st of October, 1844, W. C. Warlow married Nancy 
Garr, daughter of Joseph and Margaret Garr, of Old Town. 
After his marriage Mr. Warlow bought out John Stout at 
Brown's Grove, paying five hundred dollars for one hundred and 
twenty acres of land. On this he lived for thirteen years adding 
to it continually until he acquired about six hundred acres. In 
the fall of 1857 he moved to Bloomington and went into the dry 
goods business with his brother, B. W. Warlow. They had two 
sleeping partners by the name of Fleming, who were the cause 
of much trouble and at last of great financial difficulties. 

Mr. Warlow did some hunting and often killed deer and 
wolves. Once while living on his farm he stood on his door 
step and killed a deer, which was standing near by. He several 
times killed two deer before breakfast. 

At the outbreak of the war, Mr. Warlow went to Camp But- 
ler, and was for some time a clerk for a sutler there, and for a 
while did quite well. 

On the 1st of February, 1867, he became a hotel keeper at 
Peoria. On the 10th of May of the same year he was burnt out 
and lost everything. He had been insured for five thousand 
dollars in two bogus insurance companies, which could not pay 
one cent of his losses. He has lived in Bloomington ever since. 

Mr. Warlow has a family of three children. They are : 

Benjamin W., Belle and Maggie. The last named is mar- 
ried to Nelson Sweeney, of Bloomington. Miss Belle Warlow 
lives at home. Benjamin W. Warlow lives in Hiawatha, Brown 
County, Kansas. Mr. Warlow's domestic life has been very 
pleasant. His wife has been a remarkably good woman, and a 
supporter of her husband during their eventful life. 

Mr. Warlow is six feet six inches in height, is well propor- 
tioned, has black hair, hazel eyes and a beard, which is turning 
gray. He is a man of great strength. He used the first reaper 
which worked with success in this section of country. 

John Lindley. 

John Lindley was born February 9, 1806, in Christian Coun- 
ty, Kentucky. His father's name was John Lindley, and his 



m'lban county. 257 

mother's name was Elizabeth Gray. In 1827 he moved his 
brother William to Illinois and stayed a few months. In March, 
1831, he came again, moving his father's family. The deep 
snow was then melting away, and the country was a sea of water 
from one to three feet in depth. This was the case more partic- 
ularly in Macoupin and Sangamon Counties. Nevertheless he 
came through, driving his six-horse team with a single line. 
His father's family settled on the south side of Blooming Grove. 

John Lindley entered some land about a mile from the 
southern edge of Blooming Grove. One tier of farms had al- 
ready been entered around the grove, and he was obliged to take 
to the prairie or go to some other timber. After entering his 
land John Lindley returned to Kentucky. 

On the twentieth of November, 1831, he married Melinda 
Jones, in Kentucky. In 1833 he came to the West and settled 
on the land which he entered in 1831. His wife, Melinda, died 
in 1837. Two children were born of this marriage. They are : 
Mary Jane, wife of Isaac Pemberfon, and William Lindley. Mr. 
Pemberton lives on the edge of Blooming Grove, and Mr. Wil- 
liam Lindley lives at Long Point, in DeWitt County. 

On the first of March, 1840, Mr. Lindley married Jane Wil- 
liams. Nine children were born of this marriage, and seven are 
living. They are : 

Gabriel Lindley lives in Christian County, Kentucky. 

John W. Lindley lives about a quarter of a mile from his 
father' 8. 

Sarah, wife of Frederick Barnes, lives near her father's. 

Elizabeth, Daniel, Emma and Ella live at home. 

Mr. Lindley is five feet and eleven inches in height, and 
weighs about two hundred pounds. He is a man of some reso- 
lution, is very pleasant in his manner, is a strong opponent of 
the railroads, and thinks these monopolies eat up a great deal of 
his substance with their high freights. He cast his first vote 
for Andrew Jackson, and has since voted the Democratic ticket. 
He gave an acre of ground to build a school house in district 
number eight, where he now lives. He is a director, and takes 
great interest in the cause of education. He thinks a great deal 
of McLean County, as he has traveled all over the State and 
found nothing equal to it for a farming country. He lives about 
17 



258 OLD SETTLERS OF 

five miles south and a little west of Bloomington. Mr. Lindley 
is ver} 7 decided in his views, and is bitterly opposed to salary 
grabbers, and does not like President Grant for signing the bill 
which doubled his own salary. 

Allen Withers. 

Allen Withers was born January 21, 1807, on a farm in 
Jessamine County, Kentucky, about seven miles from Nicholas- 
ville. His ancestors were of Welch and Irish stock. The father 
of Allen Withers was twice married. Allen was one of a fam- 
ily of twenty-one children ; seventeen of these, including Allen, 
reached manhood and womanhood. His opportunities for ac- 
quiring knowledge were not very good, but such as they were he 
improved them, and obtained a pretty good English education. 
At an early age he showed much taste for commercial pursuits, 
and a great love of travel. At the age of eighteen he began 
traveling through the states of Missouri and Indiana. He trans- 
acted some little business on bis journey, but not much. His 
object was to obtain amusement and information, as well as to 
visit bis friends and relatives in these states. In his travels he 
learned the ways of the world and particularly the commercial 
world, he could buy and sell. He then began business. He 
bought horses and mules in Missouri and took them to Mexico, 
though he was yet very young. He spent two years in Mexico 
in trading with the Mexicans and Indians. He understood Span- 
ish as well as the Indian dialect, and could converse very fluent- 
ly in either. He was a great favorite among the Indians, and 
understood their character and mode of life thoroughly. His 
experience among the Indians was no doubt richly worth pre- 
serving. He was obliged frequently to live for some weeks 
upon sugar. But, after all his hardships, he made but little 
mone} r , as many of his horses and mules would go astray in the 
wild Mexican territory. 

Allen Withers came to Illinois in August, 1834, his father 
having removed to this State two years previous. He came at 
once to McLean County. In the spring of 1835 he entered the 
dry goods establishment of M. L. Covel as a clerk. Not long 
afterwards his father bought out this establishment and carried 
it on with the assistance of his son. The business was con- 
ducted in Royce Block, which became the Withers property. 



m'lean county. 259 

On the second of May, 1835, he married Miss Sarah 13. Rice, 
of Kentucky. He had known her in early youth, and in his 
later years she became his devoted, affectionate wife, his com- 
panion and supporter in the vicissitudes of a very eventful life. 
His wedding trip to Bloomington lasted two weeks; indeed, it 
required one week to go from St. Louis to Pekin. 

In the spring of 1834 Allen Withers took the census of 
Bloomington, and the population amounted to one hundred and 
eighty persons. 

In the fall of 1837, Mr. Withers' brother-in-law came to 
make him a visit, from Kentucky, and Allen wished to make 
everything as pleasant as possible. So he tried to furnish some 
of the luxuries of civilization, and hunted over the country for 
two days to rind some butter. He succeeded in getting one 
pound. 

In 1837 and '38 Mr. Withers was unfortunate in business 
and moved to Waterloo, Clark County, Missouri, in the spring 
of 1839. Shortly afterwards he moved to Alexandria, on the 
Mississippi River. This place was laid out bj^ Dr. Mitchell, the 
brother-in-law of Mr. Withers, and by Dr. Mitchell's brother. 
Here Mr. Withers acted as a clerk in his brother-in-law's gro- 
cery. He built a two-story log house on some land given him 
by his brother-in-law, and his wife kept boarders, sometimes ten 
boarders at once. There was but one hotel at the mouth of the 
Des Moines River, and when it was too full the landlord sent 
some of his guests to Mrs. Withers. Mrs. Withers frequently 
was obliged to do her cooking outside of the house, but she 
persevered and fairly earned the prosperity which she and her 
husband afterwards enjoyed. After eighteen months of working 
and saving in Alexandria Mr. Withers succeeded in making a 
little money and bought eighty acres of land in Waterloo at 
twenty cents per acre. After building a home on it he sold 
house and land for six hundred dollars. 

In 1847, at his father's earnest desire, Allen Withers re- 
turned to Bloomington, and commenced business with William 
H. Temple, in the dry goods line. But he soon sold out and 
went into the hardware business, and shortly afterwards sold out 
the hardware business and came back to Mr. Temple. But after 
a while he left the dry goods business and began trading in 



260 OLD SETTLERS OF 

stock and working a farm which he owned about three miles 
south of Bloomington. This farm, which contained three hun- 
dred and twenty acres, is now owned by Mrs. Withers. 

Allen Withers died very suddenly of congestive chills on the 
third of March, 1864. He was at the time possessed of a vig- 
orous constitution, and bid fair to live for many years. 

Mr. Withers was a man of fine personal appearance. He 
was six feet and two inches in height, and was possessed of more 
than ordinary intellect. He was the soul of honor and his 
candor was seen in his clear, honest, blue eyes, and in every line 
of his countenance. He was very muscular and could endure a 
great deal. He was a kind, warm-hearted man and one who 
would naturally have a great many friends. In his political 
sympathies he was a warm partizan, but his dignity and kind- 
ness and good feeling preserved for him the friendship of mem- 
bers of all parties. His popularity was shown very clearly when 
he was nominated against his will as a candidate for the legisla- 
ture. He came within nine votes of being elected in a county 
which gave six hundred majority for the Republican ticket. He 
was a good business man for, though he had many misfortunes, 
he became wiser from experience, and at the time of his death 
he had accumulated a great deal of property and all of it by his 
own exertions. Mr. Withers left no children. His only child 
had died many years before. But he and his generous wife 
adopted several children who needed friends. One of their 
adopted children, Mrs. Winter, has grown to womanhood and is 
now married ; and she is indeed worthy of the kindness and 
affection bestowed upon her. 

Mr. Withers many years ago made free a colored boy and 
brought him up as a servant in his family. The colored man 
still remains with the family and would not be induced to leave 
it for any consideration. 

The generosity and kindness of heart shown by Mr. Withers 
will make him long remembered. 

" The pitcher at the fountain is broken ; 

The silver chord is in twain ; 
But he leaves behind him a token 

That he'll jrreet his dear loved ones again." 



m'lean county. 261 

Dr. J. F. Henry. 

John Flournoy Henry was born at Henry's Mills, in Scott 
County, Kentucky, on the 17th of January, 1793. He was of 
Huguenot ancestry. He was the fourth son of William Henry, 
who was the son of Eeverend Robert Henry, pastor of Cub 
Creek church, of Charlotte County, Virginia. The father of 
Dr. Henry fought under General Greene at the battle of Guil- 
ford Court House in March, 1781, where the victorious career of 
Lord Cornwallis was arrested and a retrograde movement of 
the British troops compelled, which resulted in the surrender of 
Cornwallis at Yorktown. 

In the autumn of 1781 William Henry moved to Lincoln 
County, Kentucky, and on the 12th of October of that year was 
married to Elizabeth Julia, second daughter of Matthias Flour- 
noy, who had been killed by the Indians at Cumberland Gap. 
Matthias Flournoy was of Huguenot ancestry on both sides. 

After completing his early education, Dr. Henry entered 
upon the study of medicine, and for a time, during the war of 
1812, he served as surgeon's mate. In October, 1813, he was at 
the battle of Thames, where his father, as a major general under 
General Harrison, commanded a wing of the United States 
forces. It may be mentioned here that Dr. Henry, in common 
with many of the old soldiers of 1812, availed himself of the 
act of congress giving a pension to the surviving soldiers of that 
war, and at the time of his death his name was on the pension 
rolls of the country, where he had it placed as a matter of pride 
rather than for the small pecuniary consideration connected 
with it. 

Dr. Henry graduated at the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons in New York City, in 1818, and soon after went to Mis- 
souri, where he spent some time, but afterwards returned to Ken- 
tucky. Some time after this he was engaged as a professor in 
the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, with the late Dr. Daniel 
Drake, between whom and himself there existed a warm per- 
sonal friendship. Previous to this, in 1826, Dr. Henry was 
chosen to fill a vacancy in Congress, made by the death of his 
brother. 

In 1833 Dr. Henry settled in Bloomington, McLean County, 
Illinois, where he pursued the practice of medicine for twelve 



262 OLD SETTLERS OF 

years. He came to this State in an Illinois River steamboat, 
landing at Pekin. In 1843 he purchased property in Burlington, 
Iowa, and two years later moved to that city with his family. 
He had by that time secured a competence, and soon after mov- 
ing to Burlington he retired from the active practice of his pro- 
fession. He died in Burlington on the 13th of November, 1873. 

He was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of Dr. 
Basil Duke of Mason County, Kentucky, who, with an infant 
child, died a year or two after their marriage. His second wife, 
who survived him, was a daughter of Dr. Ridgely of Lexington, 
Kentucky. The surviving children of the second marriage are 
Dr. G. R. Henry of Burlington, Iowa; John Flournoy Henry of 
Louisville, Kentucky, and Mrs. Mary Belle Robertson of Bur- 
lington, Iowa. His youngest daughter, Flora, died in Burling- 
ton in 1862. 

Dr. Henry was for the greater part of his life an honored 
member of the Presbyterian church. One, who knew him well, 
says of him : " He was one of nature's noblemen. Tall, straight 
as an arrow, with a splendid presence and a physical vigor, which 
is rare in these latter days of fast habits and rapid living; he 
enjoyed a robust health, which gave way at last from sheer old 
age. Upright, honorable, temperate, sagacious, and a thorough 
man and a gentleman, his course can be emulated with profit. 
He was a fine specimen of the Kentucky gentleman of the old 
school, of elegant and dignified manners, kindly sentiments and 
genial disposition." 

General Asahel Gridley. 

A very important part of the history of McLean County con- 
sists of the acts and doings of General Gridley. While collect- 
ing information and statistics for this work the author has been 
questioned more concerning the sketch of General Gridley than 
of any other old settler in McLean County. He is a man of positive 
character, and even his enemies are interested in him and anxious 
to read his sketch. 

General Gridley was born April 21, 1810, in Cazenovia, New 
York, and received his education at Pompey Academy, same 
State. At the age of twenty-one he determined to " go "West," 
and on the 8th of October, 1831, he located in Bloomington. 



m'lean county. 263 

He immediately commenced selling goods of all kinds and es- 
tablished a large trade. The business of a merchant in those 
days is described by General Gridley, who says : " At that time 
a vender of goods was required to keep for sale every kind of 
merchandise wanted by the settlers, to-wit : dry goods, groceries, 
hardware, queensware, drugs, medicines, liquors, saddles, har- 
nesses, leather, salt, iron nails, hollovvvvare, in fact anything 
which the wants of the settlers required." 

General Gridley's place of business was on the lot where the 
McLean County Bank now stands. This lot he purchased for 
fifty-one dollars. When he settled here the only inhabitants 
were James Allin and fami'y, Robert E. Guthrie and family, 
John Kinder and wife, Rev. James Latta and wife, David Trim- 
mer and wife, Dr. Isaac Baker and family, Dr. David Wheeler 
and daughters, William Evans and family, William Dimmitt, 
Samuel Durley, William Durley, General Merritt L. Covel and 
Amasa C. Washburn. Of these there now remain James Allin, 
jr. and Dr. Lee Allin, sons of James Allin, deceased, Adam 
Guthrie, son of Robert Guthrie, deceased, William Dimmitt and 
Amasa C. Washburn. The condition of the country in those 
early days is shown by the following from General Gridley : 

" In the fall of 1831, Col. James Latta commenced enclosing 
with a rail fence the one hundred acres now known as the Dur- 
ley addition to Bloomington, the land then being open prairie 
and in a state of nature. In 1832 he broke the ground and 
planted sod corn, and the settlers expressed surprise that Col. 
Latta should attempt to make a farm so far from timber. No 
one then supposed that the prairie would ever be cultivated more 
than a mile distant from the timber, and the only farms were 
those skirting the groves." 

General Gridley carried on the business of merchandising 
with Ortogrul Covel, his brother-in-law, now deceased, from 
1831 until 1838. Their business was milling, merchandising 
and manufacturing. 

The life and services of General Gridley are told by Jesse 
W. Fell, Esq., so clearly and so perfectly that it is impossible to 
add anything to it. 
" Dr. Duis : 

" My long delay in responding to your request to write some- 



264 OLD SETTLERS OF 

tiling about my old friend and comrade, General Gridley, pro- 
ceeds not from a want of interest in the subject, but from the 
press of business engagements. With no man, outside of our 
immediate family circle, have I been so long and so intimately 
acquainted, and it affords me great pleasure to say, with no man 
have my relations personally been more agreeable, notwithstand- 
ing we have differed widely in our views and feelings on many 
topics. Though, in common with every one who has cut any 
figure in our local or general affairs, I am fully aware that I 
have been the subject of sharp, and at times undeserved, criti- 
cisms at his hands, yet knowing the constitutional temper of the 
man I have scarcely ever seen the day when I could not take 
him cordially by the hand, and I have abundant reason to know 
the same is true on his part. As our intimacy and friendship, 
therefore, reaches over a period of more than two score years, it 
is a work of pleasure to say a few words as to his general char- 
acter and the services he has rendered this city and neighbor- 
hood. 

" The salient or leading facts connected with his life, I find 
presented in the paper you have just placed in my hands, and I 
need not repeat them. You ask for some general additional in- 
formation relating to him as derived from my long personal ac- 
quaintance. In giving this I beg you to bear in mind that I do 
it in precisely the same way I did in the case of another old and 
cherished personal friend, Judge Davis. Without any attempt 
at system, order, or chronological arrangement, and with no at- 
tention whatever to style of composition, I wrote what came 
uppermost, on very slight reflection, aiming to give facts only. 

"I came to Illinois in the fall of 1882, and in November of 
that year arrived at Bloomington, then a village of perhaps one 
hundred inhabitants. The persons then composing the town 
are nearly all embraced in the paper alluded to, and among them 
certainly no one occupied so prominent a place as General Grid- 
ley. That prominence he has maintained from that day to this. 
Whilst other of our citizens have reached higher official posi- 
tions, and are consequently more widely known, no man has 
occupied so large a place in the public mind since the day he 
arrived here, in the general business operations of the neighbor- 
hood, whether as a merchant, lawyer, legislator or banker. 



m'lean county. 265 

" No history, however brief, can ever be written of McLean 
County, without frequent reference to his name, as identified 
with almost everything connected with our development and 
prosperity. To omit it would be impossible. As well might 
you attempt to write the history of our country and omit that 
name that stands at the head of all American history. 

" In what little I have to say I will consider him — as above 
indicated — as a merchant, lawyer, legislator and banker. 

" Previous to my arrival in Bloomington I heard of him in 
connection with the Black Hawk war. General M. L. Covel and 
he raised a cavalry company in this county, and of this General 
Gridley was made first lieutenant. That he creditably acquitted 
himself in that war was practically attested by the result of a 
military election which soon after took place, at which he was 
elected a brigadier general. This conferred upon him a title 
which he has since borne. 

" The war in question occupied quite a space in the general 
and striking news of the day throughout the country, having be- 
gun in 1831 and closed about the time I reached the State. 

" On my arrival at Bloomington, in the autumn of 1832, I 
found the General had just returned from the war, and was do- 
ing a general mercantile business, dealing in almost everything 
that the wants of the country demanded, in a one-story frame 
building, occupying the place where his bank now stands. For 
some years he purchased his goods largely in St. Louis, of the 
then celebrated house of Warburton & King, and others, and 
not unfrequently rode to St. Louis on horseback to make his 
purchases, and occasionally wagoned his goods from that city to 
Bloomington. The ordinary conveyance, however, was by 
steamboat to Pekin, and thence to this place by wagons. Sub- 
sequently his principal purchases were made in the cities of New 
York and Philadelphia, whither he repaired twice a year to 
keep up his supply of goods. It was during one of these semi- 
annual visits that he became acquainted with the accomplished 
lady, Miss Mary Ann Enos, whom he afterwards married, and 
who has since shared his fortunes through life. It was also dur- 
ing a visit of this kind that he became acquainted with Mr. Hill, 
one of our oldest and most reputable men, still living among 
us, whom he, aided by his friends, James Allin and J. W. Fell, 



266 OLD SETTLEKS OF 

prevailed upon to remove to Bloomington and establish the first 
newepaper here published, the Bloomington Observer. This paper 
was well conducted, and had much to do at that early period 
(1836 and '37) in attracting attention to McLean County of 
emigrants and others seeking locations in the West. Though 
there was a period of several years after the discontinuance of 
this journal, during which no paper was here published, the 
Bloomington Observer may not inappropriately be considered as 
the beginning of one of our leading papers, which, under the 
various names of Western Whig, Intelligencer, and Pantograph, is 
still published in our midst. 

" The ordinary way of travel to and from the East at that 
time was by steamboats on the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio 
Rivers to Pittsburgh, and thence by stage across the mountains 
to Philadelphia and New York. JSTot unfrequently the whole 
trip there and back, particularly in the winter season, was per- 
formed by stage. It was my good fortune to accompany the 
General during one of these winter trips by stage, and I shall 
never forget the hilarity and sport of that memorable trip. We 
had in company a Missourian as distinguished for his geniality, 
mirthfullness and fund of anecdotes as the General himself, pos- 
sibly even more so, and we were never at a loss for something to 
relieve what would otherwise have been not only a cold but 
tedious, monotonous trip. 

" General Gridley's customers, at this time, extended over 
the whole county, then embracing nearly double the territory it 
now does ; and it is not too much to say that he was not only 
known by all the people of the county, but that a very large 
share of the goods here sold were over his counter. The ordi- 
nary mode of doing business at this time was on credit, the peo- 
ple paying their store bills annually on Christmas, or the first of 
January. This being the case, it is not surprising that a man 
of his superior business qualifications should have so far extended 
his line of credit, that when the financial crash, commencing in '37 
with the removal of the public deposits from the old United States 
Bank came, he was carried down in common with almost every 
man at that time, who did business on that basis. So entirely 
prostrated was the credit and business of the country that credit 
was not only gone, but property of every description was almost 



m'lean county. 267 

valueless. As an illustration in point, property in which I was 
interested, and for which $200 per acre had been offered and re- 
fused, was sacrificed by selling- at less than $10 per acre. It re- 
flects, therefore, no discredit on the business capacity of General 
Gridley, which then, as now, was considered of the very highest 
order, to state that, failing in collecting of those who justly 
owed him, he shared the common lot, and had to begin anew at 
the foot of the financial ladder. In its results, this failure, how- 
ever, looking at it from a financial stand-point, I have always 
looked upon as fortunate, as it developed his powers in other 
directions, and thereby secured a higher measure of success than 
he could reasonably have hoped for, had he continued in his old 
business. And this brings me to consider him in another re- 
lation. 

" About this time the whole country was stirred by the mem- 
orable contest of 1840, the chief basis of the contest being the 
financial blunders, as viewed from the Whig stand-point, of the 
then dominant party. This, aggravated by the disclosure of an 
alarming amount of official corruption in high places, gave to the 
"Whig party an opportunity to make a contest with reasonable 
prospects of success, and to make the matter doubly sure, that 
party laid aside their old and tried statesman, Henry Clay, and 
placed in nomination a successful military man, General Harri- 
son. The whole country, from center to circumference, was 
deeply excited ; monster mass meetings and immense proces- 
sions consisting not only of men and women, bands of music, 
&c, but canoes on wheels, drawn by horses, and filled with men 
going through all the motions of boatmen; log cabins drawn in the 
same way, conveying coons perched in conspicuous places, bar- 
rels of hard cider, <fec, were everywhere in order, and in no part of 
ourcountry more conspicuously so than here in Illinois. Into this 
contest every man having any capacity for stump-speaking threw 
himself; and not a few made their appearance who, up to this 
period, had never supposed they had that capacity. Among this 
number, as I have good reason to know, was Asahel Gridley. 

"During the period I am reviewing it was thought necessary to 
get up one of those formidable processions then so common and 
visit what was then called the village of Peoria, demonstrating very 
largely on the way, particularly in the towns, in two of which 



268 OLD SETTLERS OF 

— Tremont and Washington — we stopped to hold mass meet- 
ings. It was at the latter place that I first heard the General 
make a regular or set speech. Judge Davis, Dr. John F. Henry 
and a number of others, myself included, accustomed to speak- 
ing, had taken our turn, when, seconded by a number of others, 
I called for the General. He immediately responded, and 
though wholly unprepared, made a speech that for clearness, 
point, and telling effect, was inferior to nothing we had heard dur- 
ing our trip. I slept with him that night, and have good reason 
to know that that was a turning point in his history. This ef- 
fort had roused him to a consciousness of power in a new di- 
rection. 

" Shortly after this it became necessary to place in nomina- 
tion candidates for the legislature, and it was quite natural that 
the people should fix upon one so capable as General Gridley of 
leading them to success in a county which had up to that period 
been regarded as Democratic. I need scarcely say he was elect- 
ed, and that though so recently in political life, he immediately 
took a high rank among the members of the House, composed 
of such men as Lincoln, Hardin, Governor Bissel and others. 
Nothing of striking interest occurred during the period for 
which he was elected to the Lower House, particularly as affect- 
ing the interests of his immediate constituents. So far as I now 
recollect, and though out of chronological order, I will pass over 
his early professiomil experience, and say a few words in con- 
nection with his services for four years in the other branch of 
the legislature. 

" For several years prior to 1850 a good deal had been said 
in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
in favor of a grant of land to aid in the construction of what is 
now the Illinois Central Railroad, and through the efforts of 
Judges Breese, Douglas and others the prospect of such a grant 
began to look promising. It was, therefore, eminently proper 
that the people of this part of the State should at this time send 
to the legislature some of their most efficient men, in order to 
secure, if practicable, Bloomington as a point on the contem- 
plated road, should the grant be made. Most fortunately for 
the future of Bloomington and McLean County (and I may say 
with equal propriety for the interests of DeWitt and Macon 



m'lean county. 269 

Counties and their respective county seats), the people were alive 
to that matter, and, overlooking mere availabilty (which unfor- 
tunately too often controls such matters) elected General Gridley 
to the Senate for four years commencing December, 1850. It 
was during this period that the grant in question was made, and 
the great struggle was had as to the location of that road. It 
was at this time too that the charter of the Alton & Sangamon 
Railroad — as it was then called — was so amended as to make 
Bloomington a point on another great trunk road, (now known 
as the Chicago & Alton Railroad,) and thus Bloomington secured 
to us a pre-eminence as to railroad facilities equal, if not supe- 
rior, to any other point in the State ; for it is well known that 
the roads subsequently located here were attracted, largely, by 
our prominence as a railroad centre. Few among those who 
now constitute our population — a population more than twenty 
fold what it was then — stop to reflect or even know the great 
point on which our rapidly increased population was deter- 
mined. From a somewhat intimate acquaintance with our State 
and its legislation for the last forty years, I have no hesitation 
in saying a solution of the matter is found largely in the legisla- 
tion above alluded to, and that, had we not had General Gridley, 
or some other man of much more than ordinary ability to then 
represent us, Bloomington 's population would now probably be 
numbered by hundreds instead of thousands. This opinion will 
not seem unreasonable when we reflect that in the act of con- 
gress making the grant no points except the termini were de- 
signated, and that by a slight deflection west of the third prin- 
cipal meridian the neighborhood of which the road had to be 
located, it would run through a country at that time much better 
developed, passing through a large number of county seats a 
little west of that meridian, including Springfield and Peoria, 
the former then, as now, the seat of government and the latter 
then largely outnumbering us in wealth, population and influ- 
ence. True, the railroad company, if such a location had been 
made, would not have secured quite so much land on the imme- 
diate line of its road, but it would thus have insured more speedi- 
ly a business for the road, which was a matter of paramount 
importance, and also a readier sale for the contiguous lands 
which it would thus have secured. 



270 OLD SETTLEBS OF 

" The railroad company, however, had not the fixing of the 
location. It was done by representatives of the people, and the 
odds in numbers being against us, growing out of a more sparse 
population east than west of the meridian, and having the State 
government influence, added to that of Peoria, to contend with, 
it was a fight of no ordinary importance to us, in which the 
chances against us seemed largely to preponderate. Thanks to 
the untiring devotion and consummate ability of our senator, 
aided, of course, by help outside, as well as in the legislature, 
those seeming advantages were overcome, and the location was 
so fixed in the charter as to secure the road through our midst, 
and, what was more, through the county seat of two of the other 
counties by him represented. If General Gridley had rendered 
no other service to this community, this alone is of sufficient 
importance to entitle him, in all coming time, to our grateful 
remembrance. 

"And here it may not be inappropriate to observe, that, not- 
withstanding he has been thus intimately associated not only 
with the legislation connected with our system of railroads ex- 
tending out from this point, but, more or less, with the practical 
construction of several of them, no man can truthfuly say, that 
he ever derived the slightest pecuniary benefit from any contracts 
speculations in stocks or bonds, connected with any of said 
roads, or, even the less objectionable way, of sharing in the pro- 
fits of town speculations on their lines. Though the General 
makes no pretensions to any superior virtue to his neighbors, 
and has never been averse to availing himself of proper and 
legitimate modes of speculation, he has wisely concluded he 
would not avail himself of the facilities for money-making 
offered by any official position he might hold. Had our repre- 
sentatives in the State Legislatures and in Congress, our rail- 
road directors and others officially connected with the building 
of our roads, more generally observed the same rule, how widely 
different would be the present condition of things financially 
throughout the country; and how much higher would stand the 
American character among the nations of the world. In sketch- 
ing the life and character of anyone in times like these — of 
wide-spread official degeneracy — it is indeed pleasant to note 
this, to my mind, important and most creditable fact. 



m'lean county. 271 

" Omitting other and important services which he rendered 
his constituents, the four years of his senatorial career, during 
which there were no less than four sessions of the Legislature, let 
us pass to a brief notice of his career in another and more lucrative 
department of business. I shall never forget an interview I had 
with him at his own house, and at his own suggestion, soon after 
his return from the Legislature in the spring of 1841. We had 
both, financially, been utterly prostrated, and both ambitious of 
getting 'on our pegs ' again. We were in a fitting condition to 
sympathize with each other and take counsel together. The ex- 
citement of political life and the events of the winter had up to 
this period kept him from dwelling with too much intensi- 
ty on the dark picture then opening before him, but he was now 
at liberty to concentrate his mind on home matters, and seemed 
more thoroughly saddened in spirit than I had ever before or 
since known him. The great question was, what he should do 
to repair his shattered fortunes, and to supply the wants of a 
growing family. His private affairs financially, added to the de- 
pressed condition generally of tfye country, forbid his return to 
his former calling ; politics were too precarious to tempt him to 
do what thousands of lesser pretensions were then doing, flock- 
ing to Washington to get some 'fat office,' and though his mind 
had been running on the probable chances of professional suc- 
cess he seemed quite undetermined what to do. I need scarcely 
say I advised him to immediately qualify himself for the prac- 
tice of law, and this advice, aided by similar suggestions from 
other quarters, may have contributed to bring about that result. 
Knowing his intellectual sharpness, and his success as a public 
speaker, I felt, and so expressed myself, that he had only to try, 
to succeed. How T well my anticipations have been verified let 
the legal dockets of McLean and adjoining counties for more 
than fifteen } r ears, commencing soon after the period here alluded 
to, answer. Lacking the advantages of a collegiate education 
and of a thorough course of legal studies, in special pleading 
and the more technical departments of practice, it will hardly 
be pretended that he was an adept — very few are — but, if good 
hard ' horse sense,' as he would call it, in the management of 
a suit; if a rare faculty of seizing hold of the strong points of 
a case, and making the most of them ; if the ability to present 



272 OLD SETTLERS OF 

in strong, forcible and telling language adapted to the common 
apprehension, the leading facts in behalf of the interests of a 
client, omitting those non-essentials, the enumeration of which 
only tends to bother and confound a juror ; in short, if success is 
to be the measure by which his ability as a lawyer is to be esti- 
mated, then was he not merely a respectable but an able attor- 
ney. That such is the popular verdict, not only the records in 
question will testify, but all our old inhabitants who knew him 
when in professional life. 

" Let us now consider him as a banker. It was during his 
senatorial career that he formed an acquaintance with the Hon. 
Jonathan Scammon, a politician of some reputation, and one of 
the leading bankers of Chicago, who encouraged him to organize 
a bank in Bloomington — the McLean County Bank — being the 
first here established. It was in the spring of 1853, in pursu- 
ance of an act of the legislature, this bank was organized for 
business, with General Gridley as its president and financial 
manager, and in that position he has ever since remained, gradu- 
ally absorbing, as his means w»ould enable him, the stock of his 
two co-incorporators, J. Y. Scammon and J. H. Burch, having 
long since become its sole proprietor. This bank has now been 
in operation more than twenty years, affording banking accom- 
modations in the way of loans to a vast number of our leading 
dealers in stock and other business men, and furnishing a safe 
and reliable depository to our merchants and others for their 
cash, as received in the ordinary way of business. It would be 
interesting to know how many millions of other people's money 
have passed through this bank, undiminished by the loss of a 
farthing, but I am reliably informed it is more than ten-fold 
greater than the aggregate wealth of the entire county. 

Here, too, adopting the practical standard, it may very 
safely be said he has achieved a great success, and at the same 
time extended accommodations to thousands in the way of mov- 
ing our annual crops, operating in cattle, hogs, etc. For a long 
time this was the only bank for a vast circuit of country, reach- 
ing in most directions more than fifty miles, and it is fair to 
assume that a large share of the ample fortune accumulated by 
the General is in the results of its operation. 

In the year 1857, the Bloomington Gas Light and Coke Com- 



m'lean county. 273 

pany, having been unsuccessful, was taken hold of by the Gene- 
ral, and that here, too, his efforts have been crowned with suc- 
cess, let the massive and thoroughly appointed gas works, with 
their fifteen miles of piping, their four hundred city lamps and 
nine hundred individual consumers, bear witness. Into this, a 
mere wreck, financially, he infused life and vitality, and has 
built a business that of itself most men would be exceed- 
ingly proud ; and yet this has constituted but a small part of 
the work of this remarkable man. In addition to his daily and 
never ceasing labors in connection with the bank, he has not only 
accomplished this and a part of the time, as has been seen, served 
us faithfully in the Senate, but he has made large and costly im- 
provements in the way of building ; acted for years as railroad 
director and president of one of our leading roads that had not 
yet been built had not he and a few other co-workers performed 
labors and assumed responsibilities few would have done ; be- 
sides doing his full share in matters of general interest, as ef- 
fecting our material prosperity, in fostering into being manufac- 
turing and other improvements demanded by a growing city. 
It is no disparagement to the just claims of others who have 
aided in building up our city, to state that in both public and 
private improvements no man has cut so important a figure ; and 
when we add to this the highly important services he rendered 
us in his labors to secure to Bloomington its prominence as a rail- 
road center, as heretofore stated, it is no easy matter to estimate 
the amount of good he has accomplished. That he has here 
left his mark in ineffacable characters, and that he will long be 
remembered as one of the chief actors in building up our city 
and neighborhood, cannot admit of a doubt. 

"Omitting any mere personal description of the man, and the 
leading traits of his character, except as herein disclosed, about 
which much that is highly complimentary to him might be said, 
I cannot close a notice of one so prominently known among us, 
without briefly referring to a somewhat striking feature in his 
character that has made him not unfrequently many enemies, 
and which we feel is not properly estimated by those who know 
him but superficially. I allude to that spirit of sharp criticism 
— shall I call it ? — in which he is too much accustomed to in- 
dulge towards those with whom he differs, or whose interests and 
18 



274 OLD SETTLERS OF 

his seem to come in collision. Many have supposed, on slight 
acquaintance, that this proceeded from a malevolent disposition 
and general ill-will towards those who differed with him. Long 
acquaintance has taught me, as it has hundreds of others, that 
this is a mistake, and that, whilst it is undoubtedly true that this 
is a defect in his character (and who have not their defects ?) it 
is wrong to suppose that he indulges in any such feelings as 
above indicated, except in the most transient aud superficial way. 
Being of a highly impulsive nature, never having learned prop- 
erly to restrain a warm and imperious temper, — and being too 
utterly incapable of deceit or mental reservation, when any in- 
vasion is supposed to be made upon his rights he immediately 
fires up, with a zeal often more intense than wise, and under its 
influence says things which he would be far from doing in his 
cooler moments, and which are frequently recalled with equal 
emphasis, very soon thereafter. Under such circumstances, who 
that is well acquainted with him has not known him sometimes 
to assail even a friend, who, the very next hour, perhaps, he 
would not only speak well of, but cordially embrace, and per- 
chance render a most important favor. Ought not such invec- 
tives, as he himself will admit are much too often and too freely 
indulged in, instead of being imputed to a bad and malevolent 
heart, as some have done, to be asscribed to a mind so mercurial 
in its temper, so irrepressible, and so utterly incapable of giv- 
ing expression to anything else than the feelings of the moment ? 
In other words, without wishing to dignify as a virtue what he 
himself has often admitted to me to be decidedly wrong, is it 
not a species of frankness in speaking his thoughts, extravagant- 
ly and too often unjustly expressed of course, which many of 
us mentally indulge in when our rights are assailed, without 
giving expression to our feelings ? In other words, does not the 
average man very frequently think what he has the boldness, 
though indiscretion, at times certainly, to utter outright? 

" In closing this very important sketch of one of our leading 
citizens, it may not be amiss to say a word in relation to the part 
he took in the last political movement, with which his name is 
identified. I mean the Cincinnati Convention, in doing which, 
I confess I am largely influenced by a desire to show the mag- 
nanimous spirit displayed by him on that occasion. 



m'lean county. 275 

" Though connected with the Republican party, and feeling 
a deep interest in the election in 1860 and 1804 of its most dis- 
tinguished champion, the cares of business had so multiplied 
around him, that he had not taken, since the dissolution of the 
old AVhig party, that active part in politics he had previously 
done. In 1872, believing that the mission of the Republican 
party had been accomplished, and that those in power, from 
their long continuance in office, had become both extravagant 
and corrupt, he was very decidedly in favor of a change; and 
overlooking entirely the fact that his personal relations had not 
been at all of a genial character with Judge Davis, and differing 
with him as he had on most measures of a local character, he 
yet was one of the very first to suggest that name as the most 
suitable for the American people to rally around, in order to 
reform the abuses that had crept into our national affairs. 

" I shall never forget the response he made when I first spoke 
to him on the subject, in answer to which he made substantially 
this reply : ' Fell, you know my relations with the Judge have 
not been as pleasant as your own ; we are totally different men ; 
but he is a pure man, an able man, a man of immense executive 
ability; he hates all kind of thievery and official corruption, and 
in short is the man of all men to reform existing abuses. I am 
for him against the world.' And when General Gridley said 
he was for any man it meant something. There was no double 
meaning; no mental reservations; no backing down ; no half- 
way support. It meant work, and work he did with a zeal and 
ability inferior to no one, so long as there was a ray of hope of 
our success. 

" In working in this cause, in the national convention, an- 
other pleasant incident occurred, in which friendly personal re- 
lations were restored between him and another of our old and 
leading citizens, between whom unpleasant relations had unhap- 
pily previously existed, I mean Dr. Stipp. In response to a sug- 
gestion of a friend he said : ' We are not on speaking terms, 
but I am the youngest man, and I'll go this moment and tender 
him my hand.' He did so, saying: ' Doctor, here is my hand, 
i Let us be friends;' and it was grasped by the doctor with the 
same frankness and cordiality with which it was offered. It was 
beautiful to see the magnanimous spirit evinced by both these 



276 OLD SETTLERS OF 

men ; and I am glad to know that pleasant personal relations be- 
tween all these men have not only been thus restored, but re- 
stored as we have every reason to believe permanently. 

" A misapprehension, quite too common, to which the Gen- 
eral has exposed himself, by these outbursts of feeling, is my 
apology for thus noticing this feature of his character. 

" Hoping you may be able to pick up something that may 
be of value, as illustrating the life of one who has occupied so 
large a space in the public mind, from among these rambling, 
fragmentary thoughts, I have the honor to be 

"Yours truly, Jesse W. Fell." 

Such is .the sketch of General Gridley, which Mr. Fell has 
written. The reader has found it full of thought, showing a re- 
markable insight into the workings of the mind, and full of 
knowledge of him of whom he writes. 

On the 18th of March, 1836, General Gridley married Mary 
Ann Enos. They have four children living. They are Juliet, 
Albert, Mary and Edward. The last named lives at home with 
his father, and is a young man of great promise. 

Judge David Davis. 

The greatest legal light of Bloomington is Judge David 
Davis. He was born in Cecil County, Maryland, on the ninth 
of March, 1815. He graduated at Kenyon College, Ohio, on 
the fourth of September, 1832, and commenced the study of 
law at Lenox, Massachusetts, in October following, in the office 
of Judge Henry W. Bishop. After studying there for two years 
he went to the New Haven Law School where he remained until 
the fall of 1835, when he removed to Pekin, Tazewell County, 
Illinois. After practicing law for one year in Pekin he removed 
to Bloomington, which has ever since been his home. Here he 
succeeded to the law business of Mr. Jesse W. Fell, who became 
much interested in operations in real estate. He took possession 
of Mr. Fell's old office which was one door east of what is now 
Larison & Espey's drug store. Mr. Davis succeeded in the law • 
at the very outset. He was not a great orator nor even a very 
fluent talker, but he was a clear-minded man and soon took a 
front rank in his chosen profession. 

On the thirtieth of October, 1838, Judge Davis married Miss I 



m'lean county. 277 

Sarah Walker at Lenox, Massachusetts. She is a daughter of 
Judge Walker of that State. Judge Davis lias two children 
living, a son and a daughter; the former is living with his family 
near Bloomington. 

In the year 1840 Mr. Davis was the candidate of the Whigs 
for the office of State Senator against Governor Moore, but the 
latter was successful. The senatorial district then embraced the 
counties of Moultrie, Macon, Piatt, DeWitt, McLean and Living- 
ston. In 1844 Mr. Davis was elected to the lower house of the 
Assembly, but declined to be a candidate for re-election. 

In 1847 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention and in 1848 was chosen by the people, without opposi- 
tion, to be Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, embracing four- 
teen counties. This was a position for which Judge Davis was 
eminently fitted. It has been said of him that his leading char- 
acteristic is love of equity, and this, combined with a strong 
will, quick perceptions and the very clearest judgment, made 
his decisions universally respected. His decisions were seldom 
appealed from and more seldom reversed. An old settler, while 
speaking of the time when Judge Davis was on the bench, re- 
marked, rather sarcastically : " Everybody seemed to think in 
those early times that the administration of justice was the ob- 
ject of going into our courts." The love of justice and the pen- 
etration which characterized Judge Davis are well illustrated by 
the following incident which was told of him by Mr. Lincoln, 
when the latter appointed Judge Davis to a seat on the Supreme 
Bench of the United States. On one occasion a guardian, for 
mercenary purposes, proposed to sell the estate of his ward and 
thereby have some money to handle. The guardian by his coun- 
: sel had made out a prima facie case and his witness was about 
: to leave the stand, when Judge Davis stopped him and put him 
l through a severe examination, which showed up the guardian's 
bad faith; he then turned to the latter and said in his sharp 
i shrill voice : " Now ain't you ashamed of yourself to be trying 
, to cheat your ward in this way ! Clerk, dismiss this application 
■ at plaintiff's cost." 

Judge Davis did not enforce the most rigid rules of order in 
his court, though he was careful that everything should be done 
with propriety. He was fond of humor and did not wish to 



278 OLD SETTLERS OF 

spoil a joke for the sake of any false or extreme ideas of dignity. 
On one occasion, when a case of assault and battery was being 
tried, a witness who was a participant in the affair was telling 
of his movements and remarked that while the fight was hottest 
he providentially knocked his antagonist down. The Judge said 
he could not allow such testimony, as Providence had very little 
to do with such a fight, and the witness corrected his testimony 
by saying that as good luck would have it he knocked his antago- 
nist down. At one time a witness while describing a horse was 
very profane in his language and continued so while speaking of 
the reputation of the brute, without any interruption from the 
Judge ; but when the witness stepped from the stand the court 
remarked : " Mr. Sheriff, you will take charge of this man until 
he pays a fine of twenty-five dollars ; the court will give the 
witness until he is called again to testif} 7 , to determine what por- 
tions of his evidence are objectionable in style." Judge Davis 
was always impatient when he discovered any symptoms on the 
part of a witness to evade or conceal the truth. In a warmly 
contested lawsuit one of the witnesses swore strongly against 
the defendant and did so in a fierce, revengeful manner. The 
attorney for the defendant then asked the witness if he did not 
have some ill-feeling, some old grudge against the defendant, 
but the witness evaded the question and the lawyer pressed the 
matter strongly until the witness was obliged to admit having 
had a slight misunderstanding. The case was growing exciting 
when the lawyer enquired: "Don't you hate the defendant ?" 
The witness began his usual prevarications when the Judge ex- 
claimed with his shrill voice : " Man, why don't you say }^ou 
hate the defendant! Say so, of course you hate him, of course 
you hate him, say so, say so, say so and stop your lying !" Judge 
Davis was not a severe man in the administration of criminal 
law, but he was always anxious to have the community as well 
as the law-breakers impressed with its efficiency. While sen- 
tencing criminals his manner was most impressive, and when 
any particularly evil trait of character was apparent, his appear- 
ance was really terrible. At one time a young man, who had 
been found guilty of robbing a very old and almost helpless 
gentleman on the highway, was brought up to be sentenced. The 
case was one which showed the lowest state of depravity in a 



m'lean county. 279 

young man in the vigor of life. The Judge called the attention 
of the accused to the enormity of highway robbery and spoke 
particularly of the fact that the young criminal in committing 
the offence had thrown aside all respect for age. The manner 
and appearance of the Judge were really terrible as he closed 
his remarks by sentencing the prisoner to serve seven years in 
the Illinois Legislature ! " Penitentiary, your Honor," suggested 
the prosecuting attorney. The Judge directed the clerk to let 
the record show " penitentiary" instead of " legislature." 

The Eighth Judicial Circuit which embraced at first four- 
teen counties contained an array of talent rarely equalled among 
the same number of lawyers. Judge Logan was the leader of 
the bar, but following him closely were Lincoln, Stuart, Baker, 
Linder, Gridley, Judge O. L. Davis, Judge Thornton, Hon. 0. 
B. Ficklin, Judge Emerson, C. H. Moore, Judge Benedict, 
Judge Parks, Judge Edwards, and others, some of whom have 
since becon^ immortal in history. Lincoln was the constant 
companion of Judge Davis in their travels around the extensive 
circuit, and at the close of their journey each day Lincoln re- 
lated those humorous stories which have made him so famous. 
Mr. Davis traveled in a two-horse buggy and Mr. Lincoln rode 
in his own conveyance drawn by his celebrated horse "Buck," 
the one which followed the great martyr in the funeral proces- 
sion to his final resting-place. 

The year 1860 was one memorable in Illinois. Some years 
before this many prominent citizens of the State resolved to 
press Abraham Lincoln as a candidate for President of the 
United States, and during this year the excitement was so in- 
tense that nearly all law business was at a stand-still, because 
the lawyers and judges devoted all of their time to the campaign. 
Judge Davis was by far the most active and influential of Mr. 
Lincoln's supporters and his labors were almost herculean. Per- 
haps some idea may be given of the labors of Judge Davis by 
giving an extract from a letter, written by Mr. Jesse W. Fell to 
a late distinguished senator of the United States, in reply to a 
question by the latter as to the part taken by Mr. Fell in the 
campaign of 1860. The question was suggested by an autobi- 
ography of Abraham Lincoln, of which Mr. Fell was the pro- 
prietor, recently published by Osgood & Co. of Boston. The 
following is the extract : 



280 OLD SETTLERS OF 

" Before responding to your inquiries, allow me to say, you 
give me much more credit than I am entitled to for the parti 
took in bringing before the American people the name of Abra- 
ham Lincoln as a candidate for the Presidency. Your original 
impressions were entirely correct. To Judge Davis more than 
any other man, living or dead, is the American people indebted 
for that extraordinary piece of good fortune, the nomination and 
consequent election of that man who combined in his person in 
so high a degree the elements necessary to a successful adminis- 
tration of the government through the late most critical period 
in our national history. 

" It is quite possible Mr. Lincoln's fitness, or rather availabil- 
ity, as a candidate for that position may have occurred to me 
before it did to the Judge, but at an early day — as early, I think, 
as 1858 — it had his earnest approval, and I need not say his 
vastly superior influence gave to his opinion on this subject a 
weight and character which my private and humble opinion 
could not command. 

^" It is well known that Judge Davis, though not a delegate, 
was one of the leading men at the Decatur State Convention in 
May, 1860, that elected delegates to the Chicago National Con- 
vention ; that he was there selected as one of the senatorial 
delegates to the latter body; that for more than a week prior to the 
nomination he had in connection with other friends of Mr. Lin- 
coln, opened the 'Lincoln Headquarters' at the Tremont House, 
Chicago, where, and throughout the city, wherever delegates 
were'to be found, he labored day and night, almost sleeplessly, 
throughout that long and dramatically interesting contest, work- 
ing with a zeal, assiduity and skill never surpassed, if ever 
equalled ; and that when those herculean labors culminated in 
. the choice of his trusted and most confidential friend, his feel- 
ings so overpowered him that not only then but for hours after, 
in grasping the hands of congratulating friends, he wept like a 
child. 

" Whilst it is undoubtedly true that, without the hearty and 
vigorous co-operation of quite a number of equally eminent men, 
the prestige attached to the names of Seward and others could 
not have been broken, and this nomination secured, no one, as 
familiar as I was with what was then and there enacted, can 



m'lean county. 281 

doubt for a moment the pre-eminent part there played by the 
Judge. Among Lincoln hosts he was emphatically the great 
central figure ; the great motor of the hour. 'Render unto Csesar 
the things that are Caesar's.' " 

In 1861 Judge Davis, Judge Holt and Mr. Campbell were 
chosen by President Lincoln to investigate the management of 
the Quartermaster's Department at St. Louis, which was under 
the management of Quartermaster McKinstry who held his office 
under General Fremont. The investigation was thorough and 
laid bare the corruption and mismanagement of affairs at St. 
Louis. 

In 1862 Judge Davis was appointed by Abraham Lincoln one 
of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. This appointment was not made by any personal solici- 
tation of Judge Davis, but simply on account of Mr. Lincoln's 
knowledge of the man, and by the effort of friends. At the 
time of his appointment he was well known in Illinois as a man 
of great judicial learning and the best of judgment, but his rep- 
utation had not gone beyond his State, as he had never filled a 
position where his decisions would be published. But when he 
came to the Supreme Bench of the United States his reputation 
as a jurist went beyond the most sanguine expectations of his 
friends. A writer in the American Law Times, in discussing the 
character of Judge Davis, says : "Judge Davis is a natural law- 
yer, a character so truly great that to doubt him would be im- 
possible. His mind is all equity, and as vigorous as it is kind. 
He is progressive, and yet cautious; a people's judge, and yet a 
lawyer's." His opinion in the Milligan case has attracted more 
attention from the people at large than any decision since that 
of Judge Taney in the Dred Scott case. Judge Davis lays down 
some fundamental principles of constitutional law which will 
stand as land marks for ages after he shall have been gathered to 
his fathers. 

That which people are most anxious to learn about Judge 
Davis is his connection with the Cincinnati Convention. The 
active principles of the movement which resulted in the Cin- 
cinnati Convention were : 

First. — The administration of public affairs in the interest not 
of a party but of the whole people. 



282 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Second. — Official responsibility and a war of extermination 
against that system of jobbery and corruption which disfigures 
both of the great political parties, and which is sapping the very 
foundations of civilized society. 

Third. — An absolute destruction of the old doctrine : "To 
the victors belong the spoils," and a restoration of the Jeffer- 
sonian maxim : "Is he honest ? Is he capable ?" 

Fourth. — Reconciliation. Freedom and local self-government 
for the South, and an end of bayonet rule. 

Judge Davis was well fitted by nature and education to be at 
the head of such a movement. He had been elected several 
times to the position of Circuit Judge by the voice of the people 
irrespective of party, and his every feeling was in sympathy with 
its active principles. His quick perception and his hatred of 
all forms of peculation and jobbery would make him an effective 
executive officer and a terror to evil-doers. Judge Davis was 
nominated for President by the Labor Reformers at the Colum- 
bus Convention, and this made him an object of jealousy by 
many of the friends of the candidates who were to come before 
the Cincinnati Convention, and they began to combine against 
him. So effective was their combination that he was beaten 
and Mr. Greeley nominated in his stead. It is now gener- 
ally acknowledged that this was a great mistake. The following 
"Scrap of Political History," which was published in the Bloom- 
ington Pantagraph, sheds some light upon the condition of affairs 
at Cincinnati : 

A SCRAP OF POLITICAL HISTORY. 

" Editor Pantograph: Overhauling old papers my attention 
has just been called to the following, written by one of the dis- 
tinguished men of our country — the late Senator from Wisconsin — 
who, by the way, has wisely quit politics and taken to a profession 
he is so eminently fitted to adorn. He may not thank me for 
thus resurrecting old matters with which his name is associated, 
but at the risk of incurring not only his displeasure, but that of 
one still more distinguished, I feel constrained to ask its publi- 
cation. Had the Senator written in the light of subsequent 
history, it could not have been more truthfully and strongly 
done. 



m'lean county. 283 

"Just as the Cincinnati Convention was going into that 
memorable session that terminated in the nomination of that 
great and good man that now rests from his labors, this corres- 
pondence was thrown before that body, and to that fact may be 
ascribed that other fact that this masterly expose of the duty of 
the hour never afterwards appeared. 

"As politics are now dead, and these names forever removed 
from the political arena, I trust and believe this publication will 
excite no unfriendly criticisms. 

" (The letter of Senator Doolittle was in reply to one from 
the Wisconsin delegates at Cincinnati, asking his 'opinion on 
the candidates prominently named, in the order of their sup- 
posed strength, in securing the votes of both Republicans and 
Democrats to secure success.') 

Mr. Doolittle's Response. 

" Cincinnati, May 1st, 1872. 
" Hon. H. A. Tenney, Chairman, etc. : 

"You ask me my opinion as to the candidates prominently 
named. They are Judge Davis, Governor Brown, Mr. Adams, 
Senator Trumbull and Mr. Greeley; and you ask me to speak 
frankly my opinion as to which would carry the greatest number 
of Republican and Democratic votes. 

" Of all these men, I can speak in high terms as to capacity, 
integrity, and as to their being in full sympathy with the present 
Liberal Republican movement. 

"Personally, as against the probable nominee of the Phila- 
delphia Convention, I could support either of them. But what 
you ask is my opinion as to their strength. I state their names 
in order just as I believe they really stand in their popular 
strength as nominees against General Grant : First, David Davis ; 
second, B. Gratz Brown ; third, Lyman Trumbull ; fourth, 
Charles Francis Adams ; fifth, Horace Greeley. Without giving 
reasons why others should not be nominated, I give some 
reasons why I think Judge Davis should be, in order to insure 
union and success. 

" First. — He is and always has been a Liberal Republican. 
In himself he is a true representative of the principles upon 
which the Liberal movement is based. 



284 OLD SETTLERS OF 

" Second. — He will take as large a Republican vote aa any 
man in the East, and more than any other in the West. As a 
test of his popularity a gentleman from Illinois informs me he 
has been five times elected to important offices by the votes of 
the people ; three times as Circuit Judge in a large district, re- 
ceiving each time every vote in the district, once as a member of the 
Legislature without serious opposition, and once as a member 
of the Constitutional Convention, receiving every vote in his 
county. "Where can you find a better record than that ? He 
lives in a Republican county, where there is a Republican ma- 
jority of two thousand. If nominated, he will receive more 
than one thousand majority, as we are assured by more than five 
hundred Republicans from his own county, now here, who have 
come two hundred and fifty miles to attend this convention to 
show how he stands as a Republican and as a man at the home 
where he has lived for thirty-five years. In the history of the 
United States no record of any man can be found to show greater 
popularity than the almost unanimous election of Judge Davis 
five times in succession to public office. He will carry a large 
Republican vote, also, because he was the bosom friend of Mr. 
Lincoln. He was the man, who, more than any other, brought 
him out for President. He was the administrator of his estate, 
and the guardian of his children. He is in every sense a great 
man — great headed, great hearted, and full of vigor, and of as 
much executive will and force as any other man that lives. 

" Third. — He would be, in my opinion, unanimously indorsed 
by the Democratic Convention, and would carry the solid vote 
of the Democracy of 'the United States, North and South, 
against Grant. 

" Fourth. — His nomination here, followed by his indorse- 
ment at the Democratic Convention to be held hereafter, insures 
an election. 

" Fifth. — His nomination will carry the Legislature of Illinois, 
and will re-elect Mr. Trumbull to the Senate, where, instead of 
being under the ban of a tyrannical majority, as he is, he would 
be the leader of the Senate. This is Mr. Trumbull's great role. 
It is where duty and interest and public good should lead him ; 
it is the place to which he is best fitted. There is too much at 



m'lean county. 285 

stake upon the success of this movement to allow personalities 
to control the action of the convention. 
" Respectfully yours, 

"J. R. Doolittle." 

Judge Davis has been remarkably successful as a dealer in 
real estate, and in all of his purchases and sales has shown the 
very best of judgment. His first purchase of real estate was 
made in Chicago, but as he was associated with others, and the 
disposition of the property was in a great measure beyond his 
control, the speculation was not fortunate. Nevertheless he had 
great faith in the future of Chicago, although it then numbered 
only a few hundred inhabitants, and he purchased an eighty-acre 
tract of land lying about three miles from the harbor. It how 
sells by the foot, so far as it is offered for sale. It is to this for- 
tunate investment that he is indebted in part for the ample 
fortune he possesses. His policy in dealing in real estate has 
been to purchase property in the suburbs of a growing town, in 
order that it might become valuable with the increase of the 
place in size and prosperity. He was always careful to buy land 
intrinsically valuable, considering what it would produce, so that 
in any event his speculation would be a safe one. 

As is well known, Judge Davis is a man of great public 
spirit, but thinks public matters should be managed as other 
business matters are, on a good financial basis. He has been 
charged with being indifferent in the matter of subscribing to 
build railroads. His theory with regard to railroads is that they 
should be built where it will pay to build them as an investment, 
and that the idea of voting aid from towns, counties and states, 
or donating lands along the line of the proposed road is wrong 
in principle. He believes that capitalists are always sharp 
enough to see where it will pay to invest their money and are 
ready to build railroads which will return a fair profit to the in- 
vestors. He thinks that the voting of aid by towns and counties 
and making land grants results in many cases in building roads 
which will not pay running expenses, and in others of putting 
roads in the hands of unprincipled managers who care nothing 
whatever for the people who have helped them and the towns 
that have voted them aid. Under these circumstances he has 



286 OLD SETTLERS OF 

always been very conservative and cool about assisting railroads 
and some fault has been found with him for so doing ; but many 
of those who have blamed him in times past are now very much 
of his way of thinking. 

Bloomington and Normal have been much benefited by their 
State institutions, the Normal School and the Soldiers' Orphans' 
Home. The location of these institutions here was due in a 
great measure to Judge Davis, who donated forty acres of land 
to the Normal School and sixty acres to the Orphans' Home. 
The former donation was worth at the time when given, four 
thousand dollars and the latter twelve thousand. It will be re- 
membered that great exertions were made to have these institu- 
tions taken elsewhere and Judge Davis' example and influence 
did veiy much to prevent their transfer. 

So far as matters of charity are concerned it is not usually 
safe to speak definitely of any one. People who have the greatest 
reputations for charity usually deserve only a part of the credit 
they receive, as a suspicion is sometimes aroused that their 
charities are performed to be seen of men. Judge Davis does 
not indulge in ostentatious charity, but his friends assert that 
very few can be found anywhere so liberal even when judged by 
the proper standard — ability to give. 

Judge Davis was at one time enabled to do some service to 
the city of Bloomington by saving to it the machine shops of the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad. These shops secure a monthly dis- 
bursement of fifty thousand dollars and the matter is of the 
greatest importance to Bloomington. When they were burned 
down, Judge Davis was holding court in Chicago. He there 
learned that it was the intention of various parties to make an 
effort to transfer the machine shops to another point. He im- 
mediately gave notice to the citizens of Bloomington who took 
active measures to save them. 

The character of Judge Davis is pretty well shown by the 
incidents related in the foregoing sketch. It is also indicated 
by his appearance and manner. He is about five feet and eleven 
inches in height, has a large, commanding form, a broad, expan- 
sive forehead, blue, penetrating eyes and a rather prominent 
nose. He has a very pleasant address and superior conversa- 
tional powers; in his manner he is disposed to be familiar, par- 



m'lean county. 287 

ticularly to those who are modest in their demeanor and who 
seem to need encouragement. lie is a very companionable man 
and much devoted to his friends. He is a straightforward busi- 
ness man and has the best of judgment in all financial matters. 
An old pioneer while writing of Judge Davis says: " If I were 
called upon to state the leading characteristics of the man I 
would say they are Honesty, Will and Concentration." Judge 
Davis' power of will was once very conspicuous when he and 
seven others started from Bloomington to attend amass meeting 
at Peoria during the political campaign of 1844, when Henry 
Clay was a candidate for the presidency. When they came to 
the Mackinaw Creek they found it swollen by recent rains, for 
the season was the wettest ever known in the United States. 
The west end of the bridge where they were to cross had been 
washed away, and workmen were trying to repair it. The cur- 
rent was strong and threatened to carry them away if they at- 
tempted to ford the stream, and their horses would be liable to 
be swallowed up by the mud where they would be obliged to 
land, for after breaking through a thin crust the mud seemed 
bottomless. The party gave up all hopes of attending the mass 
meeting; but Judge Davis insisted on going ahead. After 
agreeing to indemnify the owner of the team, if his horses were 
lost, Judge Davis took charge of matters, and, unhitching the 
team, managed to carry the party across on horseback, near 
enough to the opposite bank to land; then by attaching a long 
rope to the wagon they pulled it triumphantly through and went 
their way rejoicing. At one time Judge Davis and Abraham 
Lincoln were traveling on horseback to attend court at Decatur. 
When they reached the Sangamon River it was late at night, 
and it was necessary for. them to be in Decatur on the following 
morning. But as they could see nothing ahead of them, Lin- 
coln gave up the idea of proceeding further. When they came 
to the river's bank Judge Davis, without saying a word, plunged 
into the stream with his horse and swam across ; but being un- 
able in the darkness to find a landing, returned to the point 
from which he started. After going some distance down stream 
Judge Davis again swam across and this time was fortunate 
enough to find a landing. Then with the assistance of some 
farmers he built a fire on the bank of the river to 'show Mr. 



288 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Lincoln where to land, if he chose to swim over. The latter 
swam towards the light and was safely landed, and on the fol- 
lowing morning both parties were enabled to be in attendance 
at court. This incident shows the resolution which has always 
been so marked in Judge Davis' character and which has so 
largely contributed to his success. 

Elder William Trabue Major. 

The memory of William Trabue Major is preserved with 
affection and reverence by all who knew him. He was born 
about three miles from Frankfort, Kentucky, on March 1st, 
1790, and died January 11th, 1867. His father's name was John 
Major and his mother's name Judith Trabue. The ancestors of 
his father were English, and of his mother, French. The pa- 
rents of his mother emigrated from France at an early day in 
consequence of some of the many revolutions for which that 
country has become so famous. William T. Major was the 
eldest of six children, and it was his father's intention to bring 
him up to the study of the law. But after he had finished his 
education, which he received at Georgetown, Kentucky, it was 
evident that his failing health would never allow him to study 
law. In order to recover his health he visited his relatives in 
North and South Carolina, riding on horseback to make his 
journeys. He returned with restored health, and went to farm- 
ing in order to acquire a robust constitution. 

He married Margaret Shipp February 18th, 1812. This lady 
is still living. She is widely known and respected, and is almost 
worshipped by her children. 

Mr. Major lived for six years in Bourbon County, and sev- 
enteen years in Christian County, Kentucky. From the latter 
place he moved, in 1835, to Bloomington, Illinois. Mr. Major 
was a man of deep and earnest convictions. In childhood his 
mind was directed to the subject of religion, and when he grew 
to manhood his religious convictions were quickened. He was 
for six years a member of the Baptist Church. In 1830 there 
was in Kentucky a great religious awakening. It was during 
this year that in consequence of a difference of doctrine Mr. 
Major was excluded from the Baptist Church. It was his sole 
anxiety that the Bible alone should be his rule of faith, and 



m'lean county. 289 

that all human ceremonies should be thrown aside. After leav- 
ing the Baptist Church Mr. Major joined the Christian Church, 
which he has done much to build up. He was the founder of 
this church in Bloomington, and never ceased working for it 
until the day of his death. He was strongly opposed to the in- 
stitution of human slavery, He believed it to be a most terrible 
curse to America, and it was on account of this belief that he 
determined to leave Kentucky and go to Illinois. His devoted 
wife always shared his convictions, and always supported him by 
her faith and love. With his family he came to Bloomington in 
1835. Here he worked earnestly in the cause of Christianity. 
He built the first Christian Church in Bloomington, and when 
it became too small he built one larger. The old building is 
now used by the Lutherans as a church and school house. Mr. 
Major frequently preached and administered the rite of baptism. 
There were at that time many Methodists and Presbyterians in 
Bloomington, and they seemed to think strangely of Mr. Major's 
doctrine; but he relied with faith and simplicity on the Bible as 
his guide. The Christian Church in Bloomington has now from 
three to four hundred members ; this is more than the entire 
population of Bloomington when the church was founded. Mr. 
Major has been remarkably liberal in making gifts to build up 
the Christian Church. He gave one thousand dollars towards 
building Eureka Christian College, at Eureka; he also gave 
largely to a Christian College at Indianapolis, Indiana, and to 
Bethany College in Virginia. The last mentioned is the largest 
in the United States, belonging to the Christian denomination. 
Young men are there educated free of charge. In 1856, Mr. 
Major built the Female College at Bloomington. It was first 
designed as a Female Orphan School, but afterwards changed to 
a Female College. At first it flourished well. Mr. Major pro- 
vided in his will that it should have a boarding establishment 
where the pupils should pay but four dollars per week. It also 
provided that they should be instructed in the doctrines of the 
Christian religion in accordance with the tenor of the Bible. 
But after the death of Mr. Major, which occurred in 1867, the 
school gradually sank, and was not a paying institution. The 
building is now used as a Water-Cure Estabtishment by Dr. 
Burrows. 
19 



290 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Major was a remarkably public spirited man. He was 
very free with his gifts to all religious denominations, but par- 
ticularly so to the Christian Church. When at last the time 
came for him to render an account to his Maker for the deeds 
done in the body, he was peaceful and collected and met his ap- 
proaching change with the serenity of a saint. Nearly all the 
people in Blooraington paid their last tribute to his memor}-, for 
they felt that indeed a man of God had passed from earth. He 
left a family of eight children living, four boys and four girls. 

Mr. Major was very prosperous in his business affairs. "When 
he came to Bloomington land was very cheap, and he bought a 
great deal for five dollars per acre, and a great deal he bought 
from the Government at $1.25 per acre. His investments proved 
very profitable to him, although he was no speculator. 

In the year 1852 Mr. Major built the first public hall in 
Bloomington. It was a brick building, and was destroyed by 
fire in 1872. Major's Hall has become historic. The first Re- 
publican meeting was held in this hall on the twenty-ninth of 
May, 1856. It was called the Anti-Nebraska State Convention. 
The president of the meeting was John M. Palmer, si nee governor, 
and itwasatthis memorable meeting that Abraham Lincoln deliv- 
ered one of his grandest speeches. It was at this meeting that 
the first Republican governor, W. H. Bissell, was nominated for 
that office. This hall was first used by the State Normal School 
before the Normal school building could be made available for 
use. 

As to personal appearance Elder Major was a little above the 
medium height : his hair was gray, almost white. His counte- 
nance wore the expression of a saint. He was always ready 
with a kind word and a smile, and always willing to succor the 
distressed. 

Chastine Major. 

Chastine Major was born May 25, 1800, on a farm in Frank- 
lin County, Kentucky, three miles from the city of Frankfort. 
His paternal ancestors were of English stock, while his mothe r 
was of French descent. Chastine Major was the youngest son 
in a family of six children, five boys and one girl. His sister 

- still younger. All of the children grew to manhood and 



m'lean county. 291 

womanhood. It was a family of farmers. All of the boys were 
farmers except his brother John, who became a commission 
merchant in New Orleans. 

John was a soldier in General Jackson's army, when the 
British were defeated at New Orleans in 1815. In 1817 his 
father removed to Christian County, Kentucky, where he died 
in 1821. His brother Joseph remained on the homestead, while 
the rest of the boys, except John, came to Illinois. Chastine 
Major received his little education in the usual way in Kentucky, 
that is, the farmers clubbed together and hired a teacher. In 
1824 he did his duty to himself and his country and was married. 
The bride was Joanna. Hopkins, daughter of Captain Samue 
Hopkins of Christian County, Kentucky. 

During our Black Hawk war he made a trip to Illinois to 
see the country, and in 1835 he and his brother William Trabue 
Major emigrated to this State. While in Kentucky they were 
both of them strongly opposed to the institution of human 
slavery and this was the occasion of their leaviug that State. 
Mr. Chastine Major located in Stout's Grove, Dan vers township 
about twelve miles from Bloomington. This grove was named 
after Ephraim Stout, the first white settler there. At Stout's 
Grove Mr. Major bought a quarter section of improved land, 
well fenced in, with a log house on it, for six dollars per acre 
His remaining land he entered from the government. 

The market at that time was Pekin ; the most of the produce 
was taken there. Oats brought fifteen cents per bushel, corn 
ten cents and wheat from fortj T to fifty cents. For beef and pork 
the demand was slight. But when Chicago began to flourish, 
he prices began to rise. The first drove of fat cattle sold to 
< Chicago dealers from this section of the country was taken in 
by Isaac and Absolom Funk, father and uncle of the present 
.Mayor of Bloomington. In 1841 it began to be profitable to 
raise pork because of the packing establishments at Pekin and 
Peoria, which shipped it down the river to New Orleans. The 
prices then ranged from two to three dollars per hundred. When 
Mr. Major came to the country the town of Bloomington was a 
very insignificant place. At one time some ten or twenty teams 
eame in to Bloomington from Bond County on their way to 
Galena. The owners of the teams went on a spree and threat- 
ened to carry off the whole of Bloomington on their wagons. 



292 OLD SETTLERS OF 

When Mr. Major came to Danvers township all of the settlers 
combined could not get up a respectable school ; but now they 
sustain six and all are well filled with scholars and doing finely. 
Mr. Major moved from Stout's Grove to Bloomington in 1860 
and has been living at the latter place ever since. He has raised 
a family of ten children all of whom are living, and three are 
at home with their father and mother. Mr. Major has four hun- 
dred and thirty acres of land in Danvers and sixty acres near 
Bloomington. 

He has never been an office-seeker and has paid but little 
attention to public affairs ; nevertheless he has been made over- 
seer of public roads, school director and judge of elections. 

As to personal appearance, he is of medium stature and well 
made. His face is full and fleshy ; his eyes have a very pene- 
trating expression. His hair is rather gray, and his head is a 
little bald on the top. He is a man who would not have ene- 
mies; he mixes very little with the world and is generally found 
at home. 

Dr. Laban Shipp Major. 

Laban Shipp Major was born May 25, 1822, in Christian 
County, Kentucky. In 1835 he came with his parents from 
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to Bloomington, Illinois, where he 
arrived on the sixteenth of April. They traveled with a two- 
horse wagon which brought their furniture, and the family carri- 
age and two or three horses. The night before their arrival in 
Bloomington they stayed at Salt Creek, near what is now the 
thriving city of Lincoln. The next morning, when they awoke, 
they found the ground covered with an inch of snow. At noon 
they stopped for dinner at the house of Isaac Funk at Funk's 
Grove. Dr. Major describes the dwelling of Mr. Funk, one of 
the most celebrated of the early pioneers. He says : " It was 
a log cabin about twenty-five feet square and one story high, 
with a loft reached by a rude ladder. Here all the family, which 
was quite large, slept as well as all the wayfarers whom the hos- 
pitable host saw fit to entertain. But that which most attracted 
my attention was the immense fire-place which extended across 
the greater part of one side of the house. It had in it two or 
three logs some twenty feet long and two or three feet thick, 



m'lran county. 293 

and they made a fire large enough to roast an ox whole. No 
chairs were to be found in this mansion; but the hearth in front 
of the fire-place was very capacious and about eighteen inches 
lower than the puncheon floor, and this answered all the pur- 
poses of chairs. But it troubled my inquiring mind to know 
how Mr. Funk ever got those immense saw-logs into his fire- 
place to burn. But he explained the matter. The doors on each 
side of the house were opposite each other, and with four yoke 
of oxen he hauled one end of a log as near one of these doors 
as it could be got by pulling it at right angles, then going with 
his oxen to the other side of the house he passed a log chain 
from them in at one door clear across the house and out at the 
other door where it was attached to the end of the log. Then 
the oxen pulled the log into the house end foremost, when it was 
an easy matter to roll it into the fire-place. A fire made by these 
logs would last from five to seven days." 

Dr. Major's school days were happy ones.* He attended the 
High School in the old Court House in what was known as the 
Fourth room. It was in this Court House that many of the 
greatest men of Illinois made some of their famous speeches. 
It was here that Edward Baker spoke so eloquently — the man 
who was afterwards senator from Oregon, who entered the army 
during the rebellion and was killed at Ball's Bluff. Here Doug- 
las and Lincoln frequently met to discuss the issues between the 
Whigs and the Democrats, and in some measure prepared them- 
selves for the great political contests in which they were after- 
wards to engage. 

Only twentj'-five scholars were allowed to attend school in 
the old Court House, and the teacher, Dr. William C. Hobbs, 
was the great light of Bloomington's social circles. Dr. Major 
says that hardly any lady in Bloomington could buy a dress or 
bonnet or ribbon without consulting Dr. Hobbs as to whether 
or not it was becoming. He was at every ball, wedding and 
funeral. Wheu he attended a party of any kind the lady of the 
house never dared to pass the cake before submitting it to him 
for inspection. He would break off a small piece and taste it 
and say in his ceremonious way, "Very good, indeed, but it has 
a little too much sugar," or, "not quite enough flour." But an 
occasion was soon to arise when the skill and tact of Dr. Hobbs 



^94 OLD SETTLERS OF 

were to be severely tried. Perhaps the reader is not aware that 
an English nobleman once came clear across the Atlantic ocean 
and over the continent to see the city of Bloomington and make 
the acquaintance of the people in the Athens of Illinois. Such 
was the case. The great Col. Houghton came and Dr. Hobbs 
was obliged to take charge of him and introduce him to the 
brilliant society of Bloomington, until young Croesus had seen 
the wealth and beauty of Athens. He had come all the way 
from England to establish banks and loan money to the people 
of Bloomington at six per cent, interest. Of course the beauty 
of Bloomington came out in ribbons, and as everyone wished to 
consult Dr. Hobbs in the matter, the courtier was driven nearly 
crazy by the demands made upon him. But the English noble- 
man was resolved to have security for his money and took noth- 
ing less than first mortgages on real estate, and the money was 
to be given to the borrowers when the ship of gold from Eng- 
land should arrive *at JSTew York. Dr. Hobbs had no real estate 
and could not borrow, but he commended the nobleman to others 
and advised them to bring on their mortgages. Just before Col. 
Houghton left, the citizens gave him a Peacock dinner with 
great ceremony. The nobleman was so pleased with this gracious 
reception that he decided to have some of the portraits of his 
hosts for vignettes to his bank bills. He carried oft' many of 
their mortgages. Nothing was heard of him for a long time or 
of the mortgages which had been given him ; but at last Cap- 
tain Cozzens of St. Louis arrested a stranger answering to Col. 
Houghton's description. The prisoner was brought back as far 
as Springfield and identified as the supposed English nobleman. 
There he compromised matters, went away and was never heard 
of more. Dr. Major says that those who trusted the Colonel 
say : " Put not your trust in riches, English nobles or pea- 
cocks." 

Dr. Major attended the school of Dr. Hobbs for about a year. 
He attended Hillsborough Academy, a select school south of 
Springfield, for two winters, working during the summer. A 
severe sickness, brain fever, made him an invalid for nearly a 
year. After this he attended Knox College at Galesburg for 
fifteen months, when he was prostrated by a second attack of 
brain fever. After a short sickness he recovered. He taught 



m'lean county. 295 

school for a while on Panther Creek about twenty miles north 
of Bloomington. When Mr. Major was twenty-two years of 
age he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Gish, who 
was at that time and still remains one of the most celebrated 
physicians of Kentucky. lie remained with Dr. Gish about two 
years and then attended a course of lectures at the Medical 
School at Cincinnati. After practising medicine for two years 
he graduated at the medical school where he had attended lee- 
tures. This was in March, 1848. In September of that year he 
went to Chicago and commenced the practice of medicine, at 
which he continued for twenty years with success. He attended 
the first case of cholera reported in Chicago in 1849. The 
patient was himself a physician and fortunately recovered. Dr. 
Major was obliged to make the study of cholera at that time a 
specialty, as most of the physicians fled from fear. But after 
twenty years of successful practice he gave up the profession of 
medicine. In 1867 he built Major Block on the S. E. corner of 
La Salle and Madison streets for $75,000. The great fire of 
Chicago burnt it up, but it has recently been restored at a cost 
of $250,000, and is a magnificent building. The ground on a 
portion of which this block stands was bought in parts in 1856, 
'62 and '67, at a cost altogether of $25,000. In 1867 Dr. Major 
sold a piece of it, fifty by sixty-six feet, for $36,000, and had one 
hundred and forty by sixty-six feet left, on which Major Block 
now stands. The ground is now worth from two to three thous- 
and dollars per foot. In this same locality Dr. Major was offered 
in 1853 a lot, forty-five feet by one hundred and ninety, for 
$2,-250. lie went to Bloomington to get $300 as a loan from his 
father in order to make the first payment. His father remarked 
that this would be paying $50 per foot, for which sum he might 
buy forty acres of land near Bloomington at Congress price, and 
considered Dr. Major to be fit for a cell in the Jacksonville 
asylum. Three years afterwards this same ground was sold for 
$400 per foot. 

Dr. Major married, September 26, 1849, Miss Elizabeth 
Dunlop in Indianapolis. She was the daughter of Rev. John 
Dunlop of that place. She died December 1, 1863. The mar- 
riage was a very happy one and was blessed with six children 
of whom three are living, two girls and one boy. On the thir- 



296 OLD SETTLERS OF 

tieth of January, 1866, Dr. Major married Miss Margaret Lar- 
minie, daughter of Charles Larminie, Esq., of Chicago. She 
is a very estimable and accomplished lady. Two children have 
been born of tViis marriage. 

Dr. Major is rather a heavily built man, is well set, has broad 
shoulders, a full face and a jovial countenance. He has the 
family expression. He has, too, those qualities of mind by 
which the family is distinguished, that is, good judgment, espe- 
cially in financial matters, first-rate business capacity, and firm- 
ness in all his dealings. He enjoys a joke heartily, whether it 
is at his own expense or at some one else's. 

John Milton Major, M. D. 

John Milton Major was born on the seventh of September, 
1824, at Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky. In the 
spring of 1835 his father, William Trabue Major, emigrated to 
Bloomington, Illinois, taking young John with him. While in 
Kentucky the elder Major had been a strong opponent of sla- 
very, and this had much to do with his emigration from that 
State. When he came to Illinois he invested ten thousand dol- 
lars in real estate, lying north of Bloomington in the present 
town of Normal. It was not his intention to be a speculator, but 
his investment became so profitable and the rise in land so rapid 
that he was soon quite wealthy. He was a man of great energy 
and did much for the city of Bloomington, having laid out no 
less than six additions to the place. 

When the parents of John Milton Major came to Blooming- 
ton, young John was sent to "pay" school to get his early educa- 
tion. The "pay" school was one requiring a weekly or monthly 
tuition to be paid for each scholar. If a person wished to start 
a school he went the rounds with his subscription paper to find 
scholars, and if he found enough pupils, after canvassing the 
neighborhood, he started the "pay" school. A teacher was sel- 
dom questioned as to his ability, and there were no school di- 
rectors or boards of education to examine him, so the scholars 
were obliged to take their chances. 

In 1846 young John was sent to Bethany College, Virginia, 
where he studied literature and science for two years. He then 
studied medicine in Bloominirton under the care of an elder 



m'i.gan county. 297 

brother. In 1848 and '49 he attended his first course of medical 
studies in Cincinnati, after which he began to practice as a phy- 
sician at Quincy, Illinois, with old Doctor Parsons. Here he 
encountered many of the difficulties which are peculiarly trou- 
blesome for young physicians. People want an old doctor, and 
Doctor Major's brow was not wrinkled with years. On one oc- 
casion, in January, 1850, Dr. Parsons was called to go twenty 
miles in the country, and, as he did not wish to face the intense 
cold, sent young Dr. Major. He gave the latter a letter of in- 
troduction to an old widow lady, whose children were very sick 
with pneumonia. Dr. Parsons had been the old lady's family 
physician, in whom she had great confidence, and she was much 
disappointed with the juvenile appearance of Dr. Major. She 
heaved a great many sighs and thought she could not trust her 
children in the hands of this youth. But when this juvenile, 
adding a year or so to his age, told her he was twenty-five, she 
allowed him, with some misgivings, to prescribe for her children. 
He was successful in curing them, and she was quite as well sat- 
isfied as if the old doctor had been present, for she had thought 
it was age that made the doctor, and not the man. 

In the summer of 1849 the Asiatic cholera was very bad at 
Quincy, and the doctor had much practice with it. He only re- 
mained at Quincy one year before he removed to Macomb, 
where he again met the cholera, which was very wide spread. 
He remained at Macomb five years, when he again attended lec- 
tures in the hospital in the Ohio Medical Institute at Cincinnati. 
After this Ire returned to Bloomington, and continued his prac- 
tice. Iu 1855, the doctor says, the cholera again broke out 
among our Irish friends in the forty acres. In one family there 
were five, cases of cholera at one time, two in the collapsed stage, 
when the doctor was called, but they all recovered except one. 
The doctor practiced medicine in Bloomington until 1867. 

In 1857 he bought out the interest of Dr. Wakefield in the 
drug store of Wakefield & Thompson, and the new firm became 
R. Thompson k Co. In 1867 he bought out Thompson and gave 
up the practice of medicine, but soon afterwards sold out the 
establishment to Ira Lacke}' & Bro. Since then Dr. Major has 
been engaged in trading. 

In 1851 he married Adeline Elkin, the daughter of Dr. Gar- 
rett Elkin, of Springfield, who was one of the oldest settlers of 



298 OLD SETTLERS OF 

that place. He has a family of two hopeful and enterprising 
boys. 

Dr. Major is of medium stature and rather slenderly built. 
He is very quick in his movements ; his eyes are very keen, and 
he is always ready for business. His nose is aquiline, and, like 
that of Tennyson's heroine, it is "tip tilted like the petal of a 
flower." He is a man of great energy and is far-sighted in his 
calculations. He has great versatility of talent, and sees into 
all things quickly. He is careful in business, and can make 
profits where many another would fail. He is very upright in 
all his doings, and is worthy of his father's reputation. 

Thomas Fell. 

Thomas Fell was born June 11, 1806, on a farm in Chester 
County, Pennsylvania. His father, Jesse Fell, was a farmer and 
hatter. His ancestors were English and were members of the 
Society of Friends, but Thomas Fell now belongs to the Metho- 
dist Church. He is the second son of nine children (seven sons 
and two daughters). It seemed to be the practice in the Fell 
family to keep those children who were rugged and healthy at 
work on the farm, while those who were sickly were sent to 
school. It happened that Thomas Fell possessed a remarkably 
good constitution, and he was therefore kept at work, while his 
brother Jesse, whose health was somewhat delicate, was sent to 
school and received a better education than any of the other 
children. When Thomas Fell was about seventeen years of age 
he was sent to Cecil County, Maryland, to learn the trade of 
wheelwright. Two years of his apprenticeship were spent here 
and two years in Uwchlan township, Chester County. 

Thomas Fell was married January 24, 1830, to Eleanor 
Evans, in Uwchlan township, where he finished his apprentice- 
ship. During this same year he commenced working at his 
trade on his own account in a place called Gallagherville, about 
thirty- two miles west of Philadelphia. There he remained for 
two years when he moved to Pequa Valley, Lancaster County, 
where he stayed two years and then went to Chester County, 
where he stayed one year, after which he emigrated to the great 
West. 

He left Chester County in May, and went to Lancaster, 
Ohio, and in September started for Bloomington, Illinois, where 



m'lean county. 299 

he arrived October 10, 1835. At that time his brother, Jesse 
W. Fell, who had come two years previous, was the only lawyer 
in Bloomington, that is, the only one who had earned a diploma. 
Here Thomas Fell went to work as a house-builder, and con- 
tinued at this business from 1835 to 1852. 

In February, 1848, while Mr. Fell was living at Randolph's 
Grove, he was called upon to act as auctioneer to sell a large 
amount of cattle and other stock at Smith's Grove in McLean 
County. He left home the evening before the sale and came as 
far as Bloomington, the weather being as mild as in the month 
of May. The next morning he started for Smith's Grove, while 
the mercury was twenty-six degrees below zero. It began snow- 
ing, and the wind, which was in the northeast, blew with such 
terrific force that he was obliged to go back to Bloomington, as 
his horse would not face the storm. Within half an hour after 
his return the sun shone clear and bright and he started once 
more and arrived at Smith's Grove with frozen ears, but saved 
them by an application of snow. The sale lasted until late, and 
nearly every one stayed over night. The next morning he re- 
turned to Bloomington, while the mercury was down to thirty 
below zero, and went to the home of his father. It was all he 
could do to get into the house, and there he found himself so 
frightfully frozen that it was a hard matter to save his life. 
When he stepped into the house, he was so drawn up and dis- 
torted with cold that his own father did not recognize him. 

In 1853 Thomas Fell and Jesse W. Fell furnished forty thou- 
sand ties and between three and four thousand cojrds of wood 
for the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad. 

In 1860 Thomas Fell went twice to Colorado and returned, 
crossing the plains four times. He was anxious to find gold. 
He started first with a company of about fourteen persons. 
Among them were his nephew, Henry C. Fell, W. O. Davis, the 
present proprietor of the Pantagraph, John Rese, William Hill 
and others. After remaining in the Rocky Mountains for some 
time, his health and that of Mr. Davis began to fail, and these 
two determined to return to Illinois. On their way they had a 
few little experiences with the Indians. Near Box Elder Springs 
on the plaius they stopped to feed their horses and eat dinner, 
and when they had finished, Mr. Davis drove off with the team, 



300 OLD SETTLERS OF 

leaving Mr. Fell alone to write up his diary. Suddenly an In- 
dian made his appearance out of a gully near by, and then a 
second and a third, and Mr. Fell retreated pointing his pistol at 
them. At sight of his pistol they held up their hands for peace ; 
nevertheless they seemed to be working to surround him, but 
he ordered them away very peremptorily, and they left. Atone 
time one of their party, a rather quick-tempered man, became 
involved in a difficulty with an Indian and attempted to strike 
him, but missed him and struck his horse instead. The Indian 
went away, but Mr. Fell, knowing their revengeful character, felt 
confident that the matter was not ended, and the man, who had 
become involved in the difficulty, hastened on ahead to Denver. 
The Indian soon returned with a squad of others to help him, 
and the whites, who were scattered around, all pointed the In- 
dians to some timber near by, all telling the same storj-, and the 
red-skins finally left. From Denver the party went to Colorado 
City, which is at the base of Pike's Peak, and here entered the 
mountains and crossed South Park for California Gulch, which 
is one hundred miles west of Denver in the second snowy range 
of the Rocky Mountains. At one place on this journey Mr. 
Fell broke his collar bone in lifting a wheel, while ascending 
the mountains. He had no physician to attend him, and was 
obliged to allow nature to work her own cure. He returned to 
P)loomington, where he arrived in August, and by the following 
October he was so far recovered as to be able to do some work. 

Mr. Fell has lived a pleasant life with his amiable lady. He 
is a heavy set man, of medium height, is very muscular and can 
endure much. He is very kind, good-natured and accommo- 
dating, and takes pleasure in giving help or information. He 
has had a family of twelve children, of whom five are living, 
four daughters and one son. All are married and settled in 
life. They are : 

Rebecca R. Flesher, wife of Josiah Flesher, was born Octo- 
ber 19, 1836, and lives in Bloomington. 

Ellen Amanda Dawson, wife of George Dawson, was bora 
December 16, 1838, and lives in Bloomington. 

Rachel G. Luccock, wife of Thomas E. Luccock, was born 
August 14, 1841, and lives at Lexington, Illinois. 

Thomas Hardin Fell was born November 26, 1847, and lives 
at Jacksonville, Illinois. 



m'lean county. 301 

Jane Ann Williams, wife of John A. Williams, was born 
May 20, 1850, and lives in Normal. 

John Magoun. 

Johu Magoun was born June 14, 1806, in Pembroke, Ply- 
mouth County, Massachusetts, twelve miles from Plymouth 
Rock, and five miles from the farm of Daniel Webster, at Marsh- 
field. The century and a-half old house where he was born is 
still standing, and has always been in the possession of the Ma- 
goun family. The first of the Magoun family of whom any 
record exists was John Magoun, who was a freeholder in 1666. 
The name "John " has ever since been a favorite with the Ma- 
goun family, and nearly every generation has taken care that it 
should not be forgotten. The father of the John Magoun of 
whom we are writing was Elias Magoun, and his mother was 
Esther Sampson before her marriage. They had five sons : 
Elias, who was for a while cashier of the Hope Bank of War- 
ren, Rhode Island ; William, who graduated at Brown Univer- 
sity, Rhode Island, and died in Turin, Italy, in 1871 ; Calvin, 
who died at Marshfield, Massachusetts, and John and Luther. 
The parents of these five sons were earnest Christians, and 
lived honored and esteemed by all who knew them. The chil- 
dren were brought up on the Magoun farm, and learned habits 
of industry. John Magoun was seventeen years of age when 
his father died. After this sad event he went to Boston and for 
several summers worked there at the mason's trade, and during 
winters taught school in the country. While in Boston he saw 
Lafayette, during the visit of the latter to America; he heard 
Webster's eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, in Fanuil Hall; he 
saw the corner-stone of Bunker Hill monumeut laid in its place, 
and he listened to the sermons of Dr. Channing, Dr. Lyman 
Beecher and Father Taylor. Mr. Magoun had, in his childhood, 
known Father Taylor, and the latter had in the beginning of his 
ministry made the Magoun farm his favorite home. 

On the thirtieth of September, 1835, John Magoun and his 
cousin, Calvin C. Sampson, and S. P. Cox left Boston for New 
Orleans. These three friends, who went out together to seek 
•their fortune, had many adventures. Mr. Sampson died in 
Marshfield, August 9, 1868, a few days after he and John Ma- 



802 OLD SETTLERS OF 

gouii had met each other in accordance with aprevious arrange- 
ment. S. P. Cox is now a resident of Bloomington. The voy- 
age of these friends to New Orleans was a rough one of twenty- 
one days, and all on board were sea sick. All three were soon 
engaged in business, but Magoun and Cox could not be satisfied. 
They had read " Peck's Guide for Emigrants to Illinois," and 
nothing could prevent them from making a visit to this mar- 
velous country. They took a steamer for St. Louis, and made 
the acquaintance of the river boatmen. Mr. Magoun says that 
the latter patronized the bar very extensively, and this showed 
to his satisfaction the cause of the accidents which were con- 
stantly occurring. He found St. Louis a city of eight thousand 
three hundred and eighteen inhabitants. From St. Louis, Ma- 
goun and his companion went to Naples, on the Illinois River, 
and from there to Jacksonville, where a colony was being form- 
ed with the intention of settling somewhere. They each bought 
a share in the colony, and this entitled them each to a quarter 
section of land and three town lots. The locating committee, 
Horatio N. Pettit, John Gregory and George F. Purkitt, located 
the land and reported that they had entered twenty-one sections 
at Haven's Grove, about ten miles north of a little town 
called Bloomington, in McLean County. The hopeful colonists 
were soon on their way to the promised land, and on their ar- 
rival put up at the houses of Jesse Havens, sr., and his sons-in- 
law, Benjamin Wheeler, David Trimmer and John Smith. Of 
these colonists five are now living : James H. Robinson, Presi- 
dent of the National Bank of Bloomington, who joined the com- 
pany at Springfield, James F. and Joseph D. Gildersleeve, S. 
P. Cox and John Magoun. Messrs. Cox and Magoun assisted 
Mr. Dickason, the County Surveyor, to survey the colony lands 
and lay off the colony town, which was afterwards called Hud- 
son. On the fourth of July, 1836, the colonists made their se- 
lection of town lots. After this Mr. Magoun came to Bloom- 
ington, where he had the honor of laying some bricks in the old 
court house. 

hi the latter part of December, 1836, Mr. Magoun started on 
foot with two others, Joseph Bedell and Chester Foster, to re- 
visit their homes in the East. A record of their travels was' 
kept and published by Joseph Bedell. From his little book the 
following incident of their journey is given : 



m'lean county. 308 

" The first night we put up at a farmer's house, and one of 
his daughters, scarcely out of her teens, of no extraordinary 
beauty, attracted my special attention. In reply to an inquiry 
of one of my companions, in the simplicity and awkwardness of 
her nature, exclaimed: 'Mar! Mar! that are feller wants 
sonic grease to grease his boots,' causing one of my companions 
to bite his lips tightly while the other burst into a fit of laugh- 
ter. We turned it off" upon some other incident, and the young- 
lady never, knew that she was the object of our sport." The 
same author says : " The ladies in the West in those days were 
downright home-made looking, no artificial fancy fixings to 
adorn their persons." 

The three travelers walked twenty-two miles per day on an 
average; but in Ohio they bought a horse and jumper and rode 
to Morristown, New Jersey, and went from there to New York 
by stage, where they arrived February 5, 1837. On their route 
they visited the capitols of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey, and saw the assembled wisdom of all these States in 
their legislative halls. 

Shortly after Mr. Magoun arrived at his old home, his mother 
died. Just before her last change took place she said to her 
son: " I greatly desired to see you once more; this desire is 
now gratified, and I am ready and willing to depart." 

While on a subsequent visit to his old home Mr. Magoun as- 
sisted in building the tall chimney of the Roxbury Chemical 
Works. While at work on this chimney, at the height of one 
hundred and seventy-six feet from the ground, the inside scaf- 
folding gave way and precipitated Mr. Magoun and two others 
a distance of one hundred and thirty feet, among the broken 
fragments. One of the three was killed, another nearly so, but 
Mr. Magoun escaped with a few bad bruises and scratches. He 
says of the one who was killed : " He seemed to have a pre- 
sentiment of his sad fate. The moment before he fell he sud- 
denly said, as he looked eastward over Boston harbor : ' I must 
have one more look towards my dear old Ireland home.' " 

Mr. Magoun was in business in Clinton, Illinois, with James 
Miller, and afterwards in Bloomiugton with J. E. McClun and 
others. At present he is oue of the partners of the Home Bank 
in Bloomington. He has some eleven hundred acres of land of 
the Hudson colony in a farm. 



304 OLD SETTLERS OF 

During the year 1849 Mr. J. Seeley, of Hudson, went to 
England for his family. On his return, he left them at Chicago 
until he could go to Hudson to procure a conveyance to trans- 
port them to their new home. On his way to the latter place he 
stopped at Mr. Lillie's, was there attacked with the cholera and 
soon died. The most of Mr. Lillie's family and also the attend- 
ing physician died of the same disease. This event of course 
caused general alarm in Bloomington and elsewhere ; neverthe- 
less but one case occurred in Bloomington. Lucian A. Samp- 
son, a merchant and worthy citizen, was the victim. He had 
been to Chicago, where the cholera was prevailing, and on his 
return was stricken down without a moment's notice with this 
disease in its worst form. Mr. Magoun was told of the condi- 
tion of his friend Sampson and asked to attend him in his sick- 
ness. This was not a pleasant task, but Mr. Magoun could not 
endure the thought of seeing his neighbor in distress, and went 
to his assistance, resolving to take the consequences whatever 
they might be. This was in the afternoon. During that night 
Mr. Sampson bade adieu to his child and weeping wife, saying : 
" We shall meet again in heaven," and died the following morn- 
ing. Abraham Brokaw and Goodman Ferre assisted in the 
preparations for the burial. Every precaution was taken to pre- 
vent the spread of the disease, and no other cases appeared in 
Bloomington. Nevertheless this single case created a panic. 
One of the citizens, who was called in and assisted in placing 
the body in the coffin, inquired the disease, and, when told it 
was cholera, ran for life, and leaped a high fence, which would 
have been impossible in his usual state of mind. 

Mr. Magoun was too old a man to serve in the army during 
the rebellion ; but he once saw a day or two of service. On the 
second of September, 1862, at nearly midnight, a dispatch was 
received requesting a force of two hundred men to be instantly 
raised in Bloomington, and sent to Springfield without delay. 
Mr. Magoun and thirty others enlisted at once, and the entire 
force was made up in the morning and sent to Springfield, where 
it was ascertained that it was required to guard the confederate 
prisoners at Camp Butler. He was discharged after a few days 
service, and returned home with the pleasant reflection that 
he had done no one any damage and no one had damaged him. 



m'lean county. 305 

Mr. Magoun 13 a strictly temperate man and believes in total 
abstinence. While a boy he often visited a good aunt, the eldest 
sister of his father. Her once kind and loving husband was 
made a drunkard by a wealthy neighbor, who kept a licensed 
saloon at one end of his country store. There this rum-seller 
sold liquor to the man, whose nerves were so shattered and 
whose resolution was so wanting that he was absolutely without 
self-control, and when the wretched man's broken-hearted wife 
pleaded with the rum-seller, with tears in her eyes, not to make 
her home desolate, he would tell her that her husband's money 
was as good as any other man's money, and that a license was 
issued to sell liquor to all comers. It was then that John Ma- 
goun learned to hate all intoxicating drinks, including beer and 
wine, and then that he became a strong advocate of the Maine 
Liquor Law. The unfortunate man, who was so completely un- 
der the influence of liquor, died at last a victim of intemper- 
ance; but in this case poetic justice was done, and the liquor- 
seller himself died of strong drink. 

John Magoun is also opposed to the use of tobacco, and 
thinks it "the vilest of weeds." 

From Mr. Magoun's well known philanthropy it may be sup- 
posed that he was an opponent of slavery, when the questions 
relating to that American institution were being agitated ; and 
hardly the bondmen themselves were more rejoiced than he, 
when the proclamation of President Lincoln was issued to free 
the slaves of America. And the same benevolent feelings, which 
cause him to sympathize with the distressed, make him an ad- 
vocate of peace, and he desires and hopes for the coming of 
that brighter day "when nations shall not lift up sword against 
nation, neither shall they war any more." 

Mr. Magoun is very fond of children and very highly^ esteems 
the gentler sex, among whom he is a great favorite. He was 
never married but advises all young men not to follow his exam- 
ple, and exhorts them earnestly to go and not do likewise. 

Mr. Magoun is about five feet nine inches high, has dark 
hair, blue eyes, weighs one hundred and sixty pounds, and 
though sixty-seven years of age he would not be taken by a 
stranger for more than fifty. Few gray hairs have obtruded 
themselves upon his temples; his carriage is erect and his step 
20 



306 OLD SETTLERS OF 

elastic. He enjoys the society of friends, especially of ladies, 
as he used to do in days gone by, and looks as if his lease of life 
was good for many years to come. Few men have lived in any 
community so distinguished for kindness of heart, for charity 
and purity of life. For thirty-seven years he has lived in Bloom- 
ington, and perhaps no man is better known throughout the 
county of McLean. Though generous and liberal almost to a 
fault he has accumulated considerable personal and real estate, 
and has thus verified in his own history the truth of the scrip- 
ture which says, "there is that which scattereth and yetincreas- 
eth." He liberally assisted the Wesleyan University when that 
institution was struggling in its infancy and he is now one of its 
trustees and rejoices in its prosperity. He is a man of the 
warmest affection and cherishes the memory of his dear brother, 
who a few years since died at Turin in Italy. Perhaps the best 
idea of his character will appear from the language of one of 
his friends who wrote of him : 

" No man ever lived whose heart has been more warm and 
open to the wants of the poor. Crowds of the distressed and 
destitute have always waited upon him, and the worthy and 
needy applicant has never been turned empty away. It may be 
said of him in this community, as it was in relation to one of 
old, that " the ear that hears him blesses him, and the eyes that 
see him give witness to him," for he has delivered so many poor 
who have cried, and the fatherless and him that had none to help 
him. The blessings of those who were ready to perish are 
bestowed upon him, and he has caused the widow's heart to sing 
for joy. Eyes has he been to the blind and feet to the lame. 
He has been a father to the poor and the cause, which he knew 
not he has sought out. Such has been the life of John Magoun. 
He has sought neither honor nor position in the world, but has 
striven only to do good and to make all with whom he came in 
contact happier and better, and when he lays him down to die 
the people among whom he has lived so long will rise up and 
call him blessed, yea, they will weep over his grave and say in 
their hearts 'Here lies the poor man's friend.' " 

Thomas Jefferson Karr. 

Thomas Jefferson Karr was born in Whitewater township, 
Hamilton County, Ohio, near Miami Town, close to the Miami 



m'lean county. 307 

River, February 10, 1821. His father, Thomas Karr, was a 
fanner born. Young Thomas received some little education in 
Ohio; lie came with his lather to Randolph's Grove, about 
eight miles from the present city of Bloomington, in 1835. Here 
he attended a district school in a log school house. In 1843 he 
married Elizabeth Low, the daughter of Nathan Low, one of 
the old settlers of McLean County. Mrs. Karr is still living, 
and with her youngest son Guy manages the property acquired 
b}- the patient toil of her husband. Mr. Karr was an extensive 
fanner and dealer in stock. He commenced life with some as- 
sistance from his father, but the most of his property was ac- 
quired by his own foresight and patient toil. He was rather 
delicate in his constitution, and died on the 17th of February, 
18G6, in consequence of a railroad accident received about two 
weeks previous. 

Mrs. Karr could not claim damages of the railroad company 
for the loss of her husband because she refused to allow a post 
mortem examination. 

Mrs. Karr remembers very clearly the Black Hawk war in 
1832. At that time many of the settlers moved South for fear 
of an Indian massacre; but Mr. Low and his family, of which 
Mrs. Karr was a member, remained. Mrs. Karr has lively re- 
collections of the trips to Chicago, which required from fifteen 
to seventeen days. Mr. Karr hauled wheat to Chicago for 
thirty cents per bushel. There were four stopping places on the 
road between Blooming Grove and Chicago. These were Oli- 
ver's Grove, Brewer's Grove, Ephard's Point and Kankakee. 

The weather in early days was more changeable than now. 
Mrs. Karr remembers that very often there were four decided 
changes of the weather in twenty- four hours. During the win- 
ter of the deep snow she walked on the hard crust to school at 
the Hinshaw school house. 

The late Thomas Jefferson Karr was a man of medium 
height, slender and well proportioned. He was very keen in 
business matters, but upright and honest in his dealings. His 
eyes were mild and gentle in expression. He was well known 
and universally respected; he was very kind and hospitable and 
always ready to help his neighbors. 



308 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The following are Mr. Karr's children : 

Harvey B. Karr, born October 26, 1843, lives on his farm 
near Shirley. He deals in stock. He has a family. 

Mrs. Lizzie Bradley, wife of Dr. Bradley, was born Decem- 
ber 8, 1845. She lives in Pekin. 

Guy Karr was born May 20, 1850. He lives with his 
mother. 

Martha Karr was born December 9, 1853, died July 2, 1856. 

Dora Karr was born April 16, 1857 and lives at home with 
her mother. 

Hon. James Miller. 

James Miller was born May 23, 1795, in Kockingham Coun- 
ty, Virginia. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish ; his grandfather 
was a Presbyterian minister in Ireland. Young James received 
such an education as could be obtained in a district school, for 
his father had quite a flock of little ones to take care of; there 
were ten of them in all, nine boys and one girl. In 1811 his 
father moved to Madison County, Kentucky, on account of his 
ill health. This was when James was sixteen years of age. It 
was intended that James should be a farmer, and he was raised 
with a view to this occupation ; but, having a talent for trade, 
he became a merchant. When he was twenty years of age he 
was filling the offices of collector and sheriff, positions of trust 
and responsibility. At that time he became a member of the 
Methodist church. Christianity was not then fashionable. 
Popular feeling was against it, and especially against the Meth- 
odist denomination. It was in the face of this popular feeling, 
and in spite of the fact that he was holding a position depend- 
ent, in a great measure, upon popular will, that he took hi* 
stand for the Lord and determined to lead a Christian life. Mr. 
Miller was earnest and devoted and soon was made a class 
leader, and afterwards a recording steward. During the whole 
of his remaining life he occupied positions of trust and respon- 
sibility in the church, and was indeed one of its brightest orna- 
ments. 

Mr. Miller has been twice married. His first wife lived only 
one year. His daughter, who was born during his first mar- 
riage, is living in Kentucky. 



m'lean county. 309 

On the 18th of March, 1827, he married Mrs. Belle McGar- 
vey, the ceremony being performed by Bishop Morris. She is 
an excellent lady, and during their whole wedded life, a period 
of forty-five years, she sympathised with him and worked with 
him in the cause of Christianity. They have had three boys 
born to them, all of whom are living. 

While in Kentucky Mr. Miller was dissatisfied with the in- 
stitution of slavery, and for that reason he determined to leave 
the State. His wife disliked this very much, but when she saw 
how much Mr. Miller was annoyed by the condition of things 
around him, and how much he wished to go, she said, like a 
prudent wife : " Husband, in case you wish to go, now is the 
time. I will not stand in the way. Our children will soon be 
waited on by slaves, and it will then be hard to break away." 

In 1835 he came to Bloomington, Illinois. Here he went 
into mercantile business in partnership with John Magoun, and 
afterwards with John Masroun and Judsre McClun. He entered 
a great deal of land and had a large city property. 

In 1856, Mr. Miller was elected State Treasurer of Illinois, 
and so well and faithfully did he fulfill the trust reposed in him 
that he was re-elected in 1858. Mr. Miller's long and useful 
life was brought to a close on the twenty-third day of Septem- 
ber, 1872. His funeral was largely attended; the Masonic fra- 
ternity, of which he was an honored member, taking an active 
part. At the Quarterly Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, held October 14, 1872, in Bloomington, resolutions of 
respect were passed to the memory of Mr. Miller. The follow- 
ing is one of the resolutions passed : 

" Resolved, That our faith is an unfaltering one that the de- 
parted, who has so long been to us a brother, a counselor and a 
friend, is now among the angels and the redeemed in heaven, 
where we hope to meet him when the journey of life is ended." 

William H. Temple. 

William IT. Temple was born December 10, 1811, at Rich- 
mond, Virginia. His ancestors emigrated from England at an 
early day. He was one of eleven children, but of these only five 
grew to manhood and womanhood. When he was four years old 
his father, who had been a merchant in Richmond, removed 



310 OLD SETTLERS OF 

with his family to a farm in Davidson County, Tennessee, about 
four miles from Nashville. Here William worked on the farm 
in summer and attended school in winter, from his sixth to his 
sixteenth year. At that time he obtained a situation as clerk in 
a dry goods and hardware store in Nashville, kept by a jolly 
Scotchman. Here he stayed four years, when his father sold 
out and moved to a farm in Shelby County, West Tennessee- 
Here William lived until December, 1835, when he came to 
visit his uncle in Bloomington. He came with no intention of 
remaining, but concluded to stay one year as a clerk for J. W. 
S. Moore, and at last settled here for life. 

In February, 1838, he married Miss Mildred Elizabeth Parke. 
This lady was born in Virginia. She came to Illinois in 1835. 
She is still living, and also her mother, Mrs. Parke, who is now 
seventy-three years of age. Mr. Temple's marriage was blessed 
by the birth of ten children, all of whom are living. 

In the fall of 1838 he commenced business on his own 
account. There were then in Bloomington only five stores. 
These belonged to J. E. McClun, Baker & Son, O. Covel & Co., 
James Alliu and William H. Temple. Trade was small, but 
profits were larger than at present. Some of his first and best 
customers were old James Price, John Benson, Jesse Funk, 
Isaac Funk, Omey Only and Bailey Harbord. The last four are 
now dead. Business was then done on the credit system. The 
customers traded for a year before they paid up, and perhaps 
even then they failed to square' their accounts. Mr. Temple has 
sold goods longer than any other merchant in Bloomington, 
having continued in the business from 1838 until 1871. This 
period of time covers a great many financial crises. In 1837 the 
United States Bank suspended payment, and nearly all the 
banks in the country did the same, which made money very 
close. In February, 1842, the Illinois State Bank in Springfield 
suspended and money became so scarce that sometimes people 
could not pay the postage on letters sent to them. Postage on 
letters was then from eighteen to twenty-five cents. The failure 
of the State Bank was caused by its making heavy loans to 
farmers in McLean and adjoining counties, and the failure of the 
farmers to pay. But by the breaking of the bank a great many 
farmers made their fortunes ; for the bank paper could be bought 



m'lean county. • 311 

for thirty-seven and a half cents on the dollar, and many who 
were owing the bank bought up its paper and paid their indebt- 
edness. Mr. Temple remembers that his friend, Isaac Funk, was 
security to the amount of six thousand dollars for a farmer 
named Albert Dickinson, who lived on Money Creek. Mr. 
Dickinson gave Mr. Funk a deed of one thousand acres of land 
for it, and Mr. Funk bought bank paper for thirty.seven and a 
half cents on the dollar and paid the loan, thus making in this 
little transaction $3,750. People who had a little cash in those 
days could make a fortune in a few minutes. In 1841, the year 
previous to the failure of the State Bank, the bankruptcy law 
was passed and many people took advantage of it and failed. 
This was during Harrison's (or rather Tyler's) administration. 
At that time the best butter was sold for five cents per pound, 
corn from eight to ten cents per bushel, and wood for one dollar 
per cord. Game was plenty, and quails sold for twenty-five 
cents per dozen. On the other hand, many things which farmers 
bought were exceeding^ high. Calico was thirty- seven and a 
half cents per yard (now twelve and a half cents), and it may 
well be supposed that ladies were very economical in their 
dresses. Seven yards of calico were considered sufficient for a 
dress, and the largest took only eight yards, but now twelve or 
fifteen yards are thought necessary. People usually wore home- 
spun which they brought to a tailor to be cut and then carried 
it home to their wives to be made into garments. There were 
then only two tailors in Bloomington and no dressmakers or 
shoemakers. A couple of cobblers were kept busy mending 
boots and shoes, but not in making them. The best imported 
calf-skin boots sold for five dollars. The merchants in Bloom- 
ington usually bought their goods in St. Louis, but Gridley and 
Covel bought in Philadelphia. When the river was sufficiently 
high, goods were brought by way of Pekin. This was usually 
done in the spring ; but in the fall the river was low and goods 
were hauled by team from St. Louis. The mail to St.\Louis or 
to JsTew York was carried by land. 

Mr. Temple has many pleasant recollections of the old 
settlers. He was three times in partnership with Allen Withers, 
of whom we have written a sketch, and found him to be at all 
times the soul of honor. Owing to long sickness and infirmity 



312 ' OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Temple failed in business about two years ago, and in this 
trying period his integrity and fine sense of honor compelled 
him to give up everything to his creditors, except the house and 
lot where he lives. But he may be sure that in all of his hours 
of trial his old friends will have for him the warmest respect 
and the most tender sympathy. 

Mr. Temple is now quite broken down in health ; he is much, 
troubled with rheumatism, so much so that his right arm cannot 
be used. lie is about five feet and ten inches in height, is slen- 
derly built and walks a little bent, as if with age and care. He 
is a man of delicate sensibilities and of a rather nervous temper- 
ament. His eyesight is good, though his hearing has partially 
failed. His features are rather small and his nose sharp. His 
hair is gray, but he has plenty of it. His uprightness and 
honesty are written in his countenance. All who dealt with him 
while he was a merchant speak particularly of his fairness and 
strict integrity. 

James Depew. 

James Depew was born January 8, 1800, in Botetourt County, 
Virginia, fifteen miles from Fincastle, the county seat. His 
grandfather on his father's side, named John Depew, emigrated 
from England before the Revolutionary War. He was too old 
to serve in that contest, but his two older sons were engaged in 
the whole of it. He emigrated from England to New Jersey in 
1745, when he was twenty years of age. Then he moved to 
Rockbridge County, Virginia, and thence to Botetourt County. 
Here he resided until his death, which occurred when he had 
reached the advanced age of eighty-five years. He raised six 
eons and one daughter, all of whom grew up to years of discre- 
tion. Elijah Depew, the father of James Depew, was the fifth 
child. The mother of James was of the race of Ben Burden. 
Ben Burden was a notable man. He came to America from 
England and shortly after signalized his arrival by capturing a 
buffalo calf and sending it to England as a present to Queen 
Elizabeth. The Queen showed her appreciation of it by grant- 
ing him one hundred thousand acres of land in the Virginia 
Valley, between the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny Mountains. 
Ben Burden's daughter married a man named Peck, and Peck 



m'lean county. 313 

was James Depew's grandfather. Peck was a German, and 
received from Ben Burden, with his wife, a gift of one thousand 
acres of land. He lived to be one hundred and twelve years of 
age. When he was over one hundred years of age a man named 
Harvey made him drunk with wine and bought his land for four 
hundred dollars. The Pecks sued Harvey and the case remained 
in court for seventy years before it was decided, b} T which time 
the old generation of Pecks were all dead. But the new gener- 
ation won the case; nevertheless, Elijah Depew, whose wife was 
a daughter of Peck, never received any of the money, as he left 
Virginia in 1816, and did not learn of the matter until the money 
had been divided. 

Elijah Depew came to Orange County, Indiana, in 1816, 
where he settled as a farmer. James Depew received some edu- 
cation in Virginia and continued his studies in Indiana during 
the winter months. In 1824 he made a trip to New Orleans on 
a flatboat, with his brother and a man who owned half the boat 
and cargo. The cargo consisted of two hundred bushels of 
potatoes and eight hundred bushels of corn. They started from 
the east fork of White River on the fourteenth of February and 
arrived at New Orleans on the twenty-ninth of March. The 
latter part of their journey was made rough by storms, but they 
went safely through them. They realized very little from their 
venture, scarcely making enough to pay expenses. After selling 
the cargo James returned by steamboat, while his brother stayed 
some time longer to dispose of the cargo. While he was in New 
Orleans a terrible storm occurred, which sank twenty flat-boats. 
All of these things made such an impression on James' mind 
that he declared that one journey was enough. 

James Depew's father died July 24, 1824, and James and his 
brother took charge of the family until 1831. James Depew 
then married Judith Hill in Orange County, Indiana. She had 
come to the new country with her parents from North Carolina. 
She died in April, 1846, and Mr. Depew has never since been 
married. He has had a family of six children, three of whom 
are now living. 

In November, 1834, James Depew went with a company of 
nine persons to look at the far West, and decide where to locate. 
They started from Peoli in Southern Indiana. At Indianapolis 



314 OLD SETTLERS OF 

the mother, sister and brother of James Depew remained behind. 
The remaining six proceeded to Chicago which was a little town 
of perhaps seven hundred people. He enjoyed himself shooting 
black squirrels which were then very plenty. Very little of 
interest was to be seen in Chicago. It was a muddy little place 
and one of their company, David Adams, a New Englander, 
could not be induced to invest six hundred dollars in Chicago 
property ; indeed, hardly any of the party would then have 
taken property there as a gift and settle on it. From Chicago 
they went to Ottawa, which then contained a few little houses 
among the bluffs. Here the party separated. James and two 
others went to Danville, crossing the big prairie near Pontiac. 
From there he returned to Indiana. In the spring of 1835 James 
Depew and his two brothers came West with all their effects 
and wives and children, (the elder brother was married, the 
younger not). At Blooming Grove Mr. Depew commenced 
farming on land rented of his cousin. He afterwards farmed for 
seven years where Normal now stands on land owned by James 
Miller. Mr. Depew has bought and sold some real estate in 
Bloomington, has acquired a competency and now enjoys his old 
age among his happy and grateful children. When he came 
here Bloomington had about two hundred inhabitants, and he 
has been most agreeably surprised at its magnificent growth. 
He hauled the brick and mortar for the present court house, 
from the first story up. 

James Depew is of medium height, has gray eyes, reads 
common print without spectacles. His hair is white and he has 
plenty of it. In his younger days he was very active, and he has 
always enjoyed the best of health. 

Matthew Huston Hawk,<. 

Matthew H. Hawks was born April 4, 1804, in Clark County, 
Kentucky. His father's name was Lewis Hawks, and his mother's 
maiden name was Elizabeth Blanton. His father was of Ger- 
man and Scotch descent. His father's remote ancestors were a 
family, which came at an early day from Germany to New York, 
where the brothers scattered. When Matthew Hawks was four 
years of age his mother died, and when he was twelve years of 
age his father also died, and Matthew was left alone in the world. 



m'lean county. 315 

His father had, before his death, moved to Jessamine County. 
At the age of fourteen Matthew Hawks was apprenticed to a 
man named Hugh Foster to learn the tailoring business. He 
served his time as an apprentice faithfully for five years. Mr. 
Foster was one of the best of men and treated the orphan under 
his charge as a father would his son. This kind treatment was 
appreciated and the sensitive and grateful apprentice never dis- 
appointed the master, but often sat up until twelve or one o'clock 
at night in order that some contract might be fulfilled at the 
time promised. He remained with his old master for eight years 
after the apprenticeship was ended. When he was twenty-two 
years of age Mr. Hawks was married to Elizabeth Campbell, 
with whom he lived until November, 1832, when she died of 
consumption. In 1829 he went to Hopkinsville in Christian 
County, Kentucky, where he engaged in business with his 
brother and remained with him until 1835. In 1834 he was 
married to Elizabeth Major, the daughter of William T. Major. 
In the fall of that year he came to Illinois to look at the country, 
with his father-in-law, who had bought land in McLean County. 
Mr. Hawks himself bought property here before he saw it, 
though he intended to go to Chicago. He came to Blooming- 
ton on his way to Chicago, but found that the road to the latter 
place was simply a trail, and exceedingly dangerous to travel 
by one not accustomed to it. He went back to Kentucky that 
fall and returned to Bloorninorton the following fall with the 
intention of buying land and going to farming, but some of his 
friends persuaded him to go into the dry goods business with 
which he was acquainted. He started in business in Washing- 
ton, Tazewell County, where he remained three years and then 
came to Bloomington, where he continued his business until 
1845 on twelve months credit. But he found it impossible to 
make money and stopped and went into the oil business and to 
wool carding and cloth dressing. He was anxious to obtain 
flax-seed and advertised the country thoroughly for that purpose 
and succeeded in getting three bushels only. He sowed the 
three bushels and during the next year re-sowed all the flax-seed 
gathered from his first crop, raising thirty acres of flax. He 
then loaned seed to the farmers for planting. All this was done 
for the purpose of starting the oil business. In the meantime 



316 OLD SETTLERS OF 

he was carrying on the- wool carding business. He carded wool 
from May until September, running three large machines. After 
that he made linseed oil and sent it to Chicago by team, for 
seventy-five cents less per barrel than he could send it now by 
railroad. There he found ready sale for it, but at moderate 
prices. He retailed the oil in Bloomington for seventy-five cents 
per gallon and sold about a barrel in a year. He manufactured 
from one to two barrels per day in the season for running. The 
oil cakes, weighing six or seven pounds each, were sold for a 
cent a piece, and were used for fuel. He once received an offer 
for liis oil cakes from St. Louis, but it was so low that he could 
not have delivered black dirt there at such a figure. He sold 
oil at St. Louis and Chicago, but the latter was the better mar- 
ket, and there he found very honorable men to deal with. In 
the St. Louis market he could not find one honorable man in 
the commission business; they would "chisel" him every time 
he dealt with them. He often took oil to the St. Louis men and 
when it was low he would tell them to hold until it came up, but 
when it rose they would sell it and report to him that it was sold 
while low, and they pocketed the difference. In addition to this 
they would charge cartage, storeage, cooperage and a half dozen 
other things; they would swindle him on theguaging at the rate 
of a gallon per barrel, and at last he refused to send oil there 
any more. When a man named Flint, at Pekin, wished to for- 
ward some oil to St. Louis for Mr. Hawks, the latter refused, 
unless the cash was paid before the barrels of oil were rolled on 
the steamboat. Bat when he shipped to Chicago he dealt with 
a Mr. L. M. Boice, who was one of the most honorable men in 
the commission business. Mr. Boice would charge interest on 
advances, but would allow interest on sales as fast as made. The 
people were then troubled by counterfeiters more than at pres- 
ent, as less care was taken at that time in the engraving of bank 
bills. Mr. Boice would paste such counterfeit bills as he received 
in his book for reference. But at one time a clerk knowingly 
passed a counterfeit bill and Mr. Boice discharged him immedi- 
ately, saying that any one who would cheat a customer would 
cheat an employer. Mr. Hawks thinks the honorable course 
pursued by the Chicago commission merchants was one great 
cause of the growth and prosperity of that city. 



m'lean county. 317 

On the whole Mr. Hawks did pretty well with the cloth- 
dressing business, but the oil business was much poorer. During 
one year he worked up ten thousand bushels of flax-seed. He 
thinks the raising of flax prepares the ground for wheat. Mr. 
Samuel Barnard had a piece of ground sowed to wheat which 
followed a crop of flax. He threshed out one acre to find the 
yield precisely, and it was forty-two bushels of the best of wheat. 

In 1850 Mr. Hawks sold out his business in Bloomington and 
went to Lacon, Marshall County, and kept a hotel, then went to 
Pekin and there engaged in the same business. When the rail- 
roads started up a year or two afterwards, he left the hotel busi- 
ness and in 1853 came to Bloomington and kept a boarding- 
house for twelve or fifteen years. 

Mr. Hawks has had four children, one born during his first 
marriage and three during his second. They are all married, 
and he has children in the third generation. His children are : 

Mrs. Sarah Munsell, wife of Zerah Munsell, lives at Chenoa. 

Mrs. Margaret Lander, wife of Richard M. Lander, lives in 
Bloomington. 

Mrs. Mary Reeves, wife of 0. T. Reeves, lives in Normal. 

Tom Jefferson Hawks was named Tom to prevent him from 
being nicknamed, but he is now nicknamed Thomas. He lives 
in Bloomington. 

Mr. Hawks is five feet and eight inches in height. He is 
strongly made and seems a very solid man. He has always been 
remarkably healthy, was never sick enough to be in bed. He 
has the full possession of all of his senses, has a healthy red face 
and seems to enjoy life. He seems to be a good man of busi- 
ness ; he likes to see men do business honestly and wishes dis- 
honesty rebuked. He is a very cheerful man, loves a joke and 
appreciates wit and humor. He has been a kind father to his 
children ; he never struck one of them in his life, and this plan 
has been remarkably successful. He has raised two children not 
his own and has ever been careful to govern by kindness. He is one 
of the most tender and kind-hearted of men. He left Kentucky 
on account of slavery, as the goodness of his heart would not 
allow him to remain longer than was necessary in the presence 
of that terrible evil ; more than that he thought it no place to 
raise children. He has always been kind to orphan children, 



318 OLD SETTLERS OF 

for he remembers that he was himself an orphan. He loves to 
talk of the early settlement of the country, and thinks he enjoyed 
himself more in those early days, when people helped each other 
and raised each other's houses, than he ever has since. He was 
twice justice of the peace in Bloomington. He resigned during 
his first term, but was re-elected. While serving as justice of 
the peace he had the pleasure of marrying Captain John L. 
Routt, who is now Second Assistant Postmaster General. 

Samuel Lander. 

Samuel Lander was born January 21, 1798, in Clark County, 
Kentucky. His father's name was John Lander and his mother's 
name before her marriage was Sallie Skinner. John Lander 
was of English and Yankee descent. His grandfather, Henry 
Lander, came from England and lived to be one hundred and 
fourteen years of age. Sallie Skinner was probably of German 
descent. In 1816 the family came to Christian County, Ken. 
tucky. There Mr. Lander lived until 1835 when he came to 
Illinois. The journey was a pleasant one. They traveled by 
team in company with three other families, numbering sixteen 
persons in all. They camped out by the way and enjoyed life 
in the open air. They arrived in Bloomington, October 20, and 
for a few weeks Mr. Lander's family lived with the families of 
Ludwell E. Rucker and John Enlow, in a little shanty about six- 
teen feet square. It was made of rails and was weather-boarded 
with clapboards split and shaved. This shanty had been put up 
by Mr. Lander sometime previous to his settlement, when he 
came to the country and bought land. He afterwards made an 
addition to the shanty by moving a little eighteen feet square 
cabin up from the woods. He made a chimney for it by laying 
up brickbats without mortar, because of the cold weather. 

Mr. Lander commenced farming and raising stock. The 
wolves troubled him and he troubled the wolves, and at last suc- 
ceeded in getting the better of them. 

The finances of the State of Illinois w T ere in a fearful condi- 
tion from 1838 to 1847. " Money was then a great rarity." Men 
of the best of judgment were discouraged, and land within two 
miles of Bloomington sold for a dollar per acre. Wheat, pork, 
cattle, everything sold for a song. During the winter of 1841 



m'lean county. 319 

and '42 Mr. Lander and several others put their hogs together 
in a " bunch," took them, about five hundred in all, to Chicago, 
and after they were butchered the meat brought two dollars per 
hundred. Mr. Lander took oxen to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 
there sold them for between twenty-five and forty-five dollars 
per yoke. Cows were sold there for twelve or fourteen dollars, 
and bacon hams for five cents per pound. During the spring 
of 1842 Mr. Lander sold three barrels of lard for three cents per 
pound. He took some first rate horses to Chicago and sold them 
for between twenty-five and thirty-five dollars a piece. This 
was in 1844. During the following year he sold a hundred fat 
wethers for one dollar and sixty cents a piece. Men sunk money 
in Bloomington by buying pork for $1.50 per hundred, nett. 
Mr. Lander wishes the rising generation to take note of these 
prices, and if they feel discouraged, he wishes them to think 
how much better off they are than their fathers were, and go to 
work with renewed energy. The present is their opportunity. 

The tide began to turn in 1847. During that year a constitu- 
tional convention was held. Judge David Davis was chosen a 
delegate from McLean County, and Mr. Lander was selected to 
represent McLean and Livingston counties. This convention 
showed clearly that the people of the State of Illinois were reso- 
lute and earnest in trying to pay their State debt and relieve 
themselves from their financial difficulties. A two mill tax was 
levied to meet. the interest on the public debt, and confidence 
was restored. This honest attempt on the part of the people 
to meet their obligations was worth untold millions to the State 
of Illinois. Its credit improved at home and abroad, and pros- 
perity came again. 

The convention also passed a general banking act, which 
afforded great relief and inspired the people with confidence and 
courage. The period embraced by the years 1842 and 1847 is 
most instructive to the people of the State, and it is to this 
period that the citizens of Illinois may point with pride. It was 
during this time that the idea of repudiating the obligations of 
the State were cast aside and an honorable course adhered to. 
The convention of 1847 finished the work by making provision 
for meeting the State debt and paying the interest. The finish- 
ing of the Illinois and Michigan Canal also assisted wonderfully 
in developing the State and diffusing confidence. 



320 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Lander had his share of sport in the early days and often 
hunted wolves and deer. The former, he says, were very tena- 
cious of life, almost as much so as an opossum. He once caught 
a wolf and killed it, as he supposed ; but after it was skinned it 
showed signs of life. His son, John Lander, and a party of 
others chased a wolf twenty miles, caught it and thought it dead. 
After bringing it eight miles home it showed signs of life. 

In May, 1822, Mr. Lander married Sallie Haggard, in Chris- 
tian County, Kentucky. By this marriage he had six children, 
of whom four are living. They are : 

John Lander, who lives in Arrowsmith township. 

Charles W. and Richard M. Lander, live in Bloomington. 

Zarelda, wife of William Doyle, lives in Clark County, 
Kentucky. 

Mrs. Lander died in December, 1843. In February, 1845, 
Mr. Lander married Ardela C. "Wilson. By this marriage he has 
had six children, of whom two are living. They are : Clara J. 
and Walter S. Lander, and both live at home. 

Mr. Lander is about five feet ten inches in height, has a san- 
guine complexion, a bald head and heavy eyebrows. He is now 
seventy-five years of age, but no one would think him so old. 
He bids fair to live to the age of one hundred and fourteen, as 
did his great grandfather, Henry Lander. Samuel Lander 
appears to have been prosperous and successful. He is a kind- 
hearted gentleman. In politics he was an Old Line Whig, 
afterwards a Democrat, and now a free political thinker, not 
bound by any exclusive ties. 

William Thomas. 

William Thomas was born April 26, 1806, on a farm in 
Champaign County, (then called Madison County) Ohio. His 
ancestors were descended from Scotch and Welch stock. In the 
year 1600 three brothers named Thomas emigrated from Wales 
to the American colonies. One of them settled in New England, 
one in Virginia and one in North Carolina. William Thomas' 
father, whose name was Francis Thomas, was born in North 
Carolina in the year 1781, but when only two years of age his 
father moved to Virginia, where Francis grew to manhood.^In 
the fall of 1805 he moved to Ohio, where William Thomas, 



m'lean county. 321 

whose sketch we arc writing, was born. The circumstances of 
Francis Thomas' removal to Ohio were curious. Many years 
before, Mr. John Thomas, an uncle of Francis, lived in Vir- 
ginia with his wife and family of nine children. He was a vtr\ 
religious man, and a member of the Baptist church. One even- 
ing, while the family were engaged in singing and devotional 
exercises, some Indians crept up and shot the old gentleman 
through a hole in the door ; they then rushed in and massacred 
the whole family with the exception of a bound girl, who re- 
lated the circumstances of the tragedy, and one little boy five 
years of age. The Indians set the house on fire, stole the horses 
and left, taking the little boy with them into captivity. But the 
little girl succeeded in hiding herself from them in the sheep 
fold, and related the circumstances of the massacre. The little 
boy who was made captive was the cousin of Francis Thomas, 
and many years afterwards the latter heard of a young man who 
was seen with the Indians on the Sandusky Plains. The young 
man had light hair and blue eyes, and Francis believed him to 
be his captive cousin. He started immediately to find him, and 
made extended journeys and long searches, and at last found 
the young man and fully identified him as his cousin. The In- 
dians said he was taken a captive from Western Virginia. The 
two young gentlemen were glad to meet; they hunted together 
(a great sport in those days), and w T ere much attached to each 
other. Perhaps the reader will think the captive cousin was glad 
of an opportunity to return to his relatives. Nothing of the kind. 
He had become an Indian; savage life was a part of his nature, and, 
though he had the warmest affection for his cousin Francis, he 
could not be persuaded to accompany him. Francis remained 
a week with his cousin, parted from him with tears, and sorrow- 
fully returned to his home in Virginia. 

But during his travels to find his long lost cousin, Francis 
had a view of the western country, and was so charmed with it 
that, after sensibly marrying a wife, and making all necessary 
arrangements, he left the hilly country of Virginia and came to 
Ohio. Here AVilliam was born. 

William Thomas remembers very clearly the war of 1812, 
although at that time he was only six or seven years old. The 
northern part of Ohio was then infested with Indians, and Mr. 
21 



322 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Thomas lived only nine miles south of the boundary line. Wil- 
liam's uncle, Arthur Thomas, was captain of a company of vol- 
unteers who were called together to defend the country from 
the British and Indians. At the close of their enlistment the 
compaii}' of volunteers celebrated their return by shooting and 
making a great noise, and they frightened a horse belonging to 
Captain Thomas (William's uncle) so that the animal broke 
away. Captain Thomas and his son started for the horse, but 
did not return. After waiting several days, their Iriends made 
search for them and found them nine miles from home, massa- 
cred by Indians. 

About this time, or a little before, occurred the death of the 
mother and the wife of Francis Thomas, and the latter became 
so disheartened in consequence that he returned to Harrison 
County, Virginia, where he had formerly lived. There he' re- 
mained two years, again married, and removed to Xenia town- 
ship, Green County, Ohio. 

Here William received some little education in the often de- 
scribed log school house, lighted by a greased paper window. 
His course of instruction embraced arithmetic, reading and 
writing ; when he became larger he received some instruction 
in grammar. He had only two teachers. One of them was 
a muscular man named Duff, who was warranted strong enough 
to whip anyone of his size ; and indeed the teachers in those 
days stood in need of all their muscle. But William was a 
good boy, and never was whipped. The other teacher was 
named Robert P. Black, a young man, who managed his scholars 
by his ingenuity, if he could not succeed with his muscle. It 
was the custom in those days to bar out the teacher on Christ- 
mas day and keep him out until he agreed to treat the scholars, 
usually to one bushel of apples and two gallons of cider. One 
Christmas morning Mr. Black found that his scholars had barred 
him out; the boys were inside ; the girls had stayed at home, 
knowing what was to happen. Black, who was a tall young 
man, came to the school house, and, finding himself barred out, 
went away. Now, there was in the neighborhood a certain Mrs. 
Kendall, who was in the habit of riding around on a pony. She 
was a very tall lady and well known in the neighborhood. Some 
time after Mr. Black left the school house the scholars came out, 



m'lean county. 828 

hardly knowing what was to happen next. While they were 
standing there Mrs. Kendall came riding along on her pony, 
and dismounted at the school house and quietly walked in. The 
scholars curiously followed her, when, to their astonishment, 
she pulled oft" her bonnet and gown, and their teacher, Mr. Black, 
stood before them. The scholars were completely outwitted ; 
nevertheless the teacher furnished the bushel of apples and two 
gallons of cider. 

Francis Thomas died in 1823, when William was seventeen 
years of age. The eldest boy, Ezekiel, left home shortly after 
his father's death, and studied mediciue. He is now practicing 
as a physician in Clinton, DeWitt County. William stayed at 
home on the farm and supported his step-mother, of whom he 
was very fond, and who was worthy of his affection. 

When William Thomas Avas nineteen years of age he went 
with a drove of horses to Virginia, and while there visited Rock- 
bridge County, and saw the natural rock bridge, about which so 
much has been written. This is the bridge which was climbed 
by Dunlap, a medical student from Lexington. 

On the eighth of April, 1830, William Thomas was made a 
happy man. He married Catherine Haines, who lived about 
two miles distant, and whom he had known from childhood. He 
has had a family of twelve children, six of whom are now living, 
three sons and three daughters. 

In the fall of 1831, Benjamin Haines, Mr. Thomas' father-in- 
law, moved to Bloomington, Illinois, and this determined Mr. 
Thomas, some years after, to go farther West. He started for 
Illinois on the eighth of December, 1835. He traveled with his 
wife and two children in a w T agon to Cincinnati, and took a 
steamboat from there to 1'ekin, Illinois. But the ice in the 
river caused a great deal of trouble, and they were sometimes 
unable to move more than three or four miles in a day. When 
they came to Louisville they entered the canal, which goes 
around the falls, and came in contact with another steamer going 
the other way. After a long and vexatious delay they proceeded, 
but were six weeks on the way from Cincinnati to Pekin. From 
the latter place they came by team to Bloomington, and lived 
with Benjamin Haines, a merchant, until spring. In the spring 
Mr. Thomas moved to a farm now owned by Judge J. E. Mc- 



324 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Clnn, near the eastern depot. In the fall of 1837 he rented the 
Durley farm, and the house where he lived stood on the ground 
now occupied by Durley Hall. This was then a part of the 
Durley farm. He rented this farm of one hundred acres for two 
hundred dollars per annum for live years. In the spring of 1840 
he sold the lease of this farm and moved to Main street. From 
1842 to 1849 he lived where Thomas Ashley has since built Ives 
Block, corner of Jefferson and Madison streets. In 1849 he 
moved to East Jefferson street, where he has resided ever since. 
In March, 1848, Mr. Thomas took a drove of fifty-four 
horses to Chicago for J. C. Duncan & Co., merchants in Bloom- 
ington. He had great trouble in getting them over the Ver- 
milion River as the season was very wet and the bridge across 
the river had been washed away. He had with him a man who 
had formerly been a soldier and was very courageous. The old 
soldier swam the river seventeen times in one day during that 
cold March weather. But when the wagon was taken across a 
horse collar fell into the water and the old soldier sprang in to 
get it and was taken with cramps. When rescued he was in- 
sensible, and it was thought that his adventures were ended, 
but whisky and pepper revived him. Mr. Thomas succeeded in 
faking his horses safely through to Chicago. "While there he 
attended the great canal boat celebration, when the Illinois and 
Michigan Canal was completed. This was considered a great 
event at the time. The first boat came from the Illinois River 
into the Chicago River, and was landed between State and 
Dearborn streets, at the wharf of Mr. Samuel Walker. This gen- 
tleman made a grand speech on that occasion ; many other gen- 
tlemen also made speeches, for eloquence was as cheap then as at 
the present time. At this time, too, work was done on the six 
mile iron railroad. This road was built by a company and was 
the second in the State. It started from Wells street, on the 
North side of the Chicago River, and ran west, crossing the 
north branch of the river, and continuing to the Six Mile House 
Tavern. It was completed on the tenth of November, 1848 ; a 
free ride was offered to all and a free treat at the Six Mile 
House. Mr. Thomas did not go on the excursion because the 
railroad was a " snakehead." A railroad of this kind was built 
by extending wooden beams upon sleepers and bolting to the 



m'lean county. 325 

beams straps of iron, which served as rails, upon which cars 
were to run. The heads of the bolts were sunk low enough to 
prevent friction to the trains passing over them. But this ar- 
rangement was subject to a peculiar danger. The ends of the 
iron straps were sometimes torn loose from the beams and curled 
up, and when the train passed over them swiftly they would 
sometimes spring up and strike the bottom of the car and go 
through it instantly, to the danger and perhaps death of the 
passengers. These straps of iron, which curled up, were called 
" snake-heads," and the roads were called " snake-head " roads. 

At that time Mr. Thomas was offered four and a half acres oi 
land, situated about one mile south of Lake street, in the present 
heart of the city, for one hundred dollars per acre. If he had 
such an offer made to him now he would probably accept it. 

William Thomas was treasurer of McLean County for eleven 
years, beginning in the spring of 1851 and ending in the fall of 
1861. During the first seven years that he served as treasurer 
he was also assessor, but after that time the offices were sepa- 
rated, as the county adopted township organization and each 
township chose its own assessor. In the spring of 1836 the 
brick court house was built by Leander Munsell for six thousand 
three hundred and seventy-five dollars, of which sum five thous- 
and three hundred and seventy-five dollars was to be paid in 
twenty } r ear bonds, bearing interest at eight per cent. When 
Mr. Thomas came into office no interest had been paid for three 
years and no money was in the treasury. In order to meet this 
he immediately raised the valuation of the property in the 
county. The approximate value then amounted to three mil- 
lions of dollars, and the tax was thirty cents on a hundred dol- 
lars. The interest was then paid, and in 1852, '53 and '54, the 
principal was paid, and the county was out of debt. Mr. 
Thomas says that while he was treasurer, the townships improved 
every year and became more settled. The farmers had fine 
crops of wheat from 1851 to 1856, but since then the wheat has 
partially failed. He says that in 1853 a new-comer bought a 
quarter section of railroad land for twelve dollars an acre. His 
crop that year paid for the land and all improvements on it and 
left money in his pocket. 

William Thomas is five feet eleven inches in height, not 



326 OLD SETTLERS OF 

heavily built, has sharp features, light hair and plenty of it. 
Both hair and whiskers are turning gray with age. Re is very 
healthy and has many years yet to live. 

Thomas Williams. 

Thomas Williams was born in the town of Bracon, County 
of Bracon, South Wales, England. His ancestors were of the 
real Welch-Irish stock. The Williams are very numerous in 
that part of the country and have lived in the County of Bracon 
for five hundred years or more. The father of the subject of 
this sketch was called Thomas Williams, and his name has been 
carried through five generations, one of the sons of the family 
taking that name. Thomas had two brothers and one sister, all 
of whom were younger than he. He received a very fair Eng- 
lish education, having attended school from his sixth to his six- 
teenth year. He remembers nothing of interest when a boy. 
He was a lively lad and sometimes " np to his tricks." His 
father was a carpenter and joiner in the town of Bracon, and died 
when young Thomas was in his sixteenth year. Upon the 
death of his father, his mother moved into the country to a 
cousin of her's, where she had been a dairy-maid before her 
marriage. She took with her the youngest child, a boy of six 
years, and kept her cousin's house. The boy was sent to school 
and Thomas paid his tuition. Tlis sister and remaining brother 
were taken care of by other relatives of the family, while 
Thomas was bound out for five years to learn the carpenter and 
joiner's trade. Tie had served under his father as an apprentice 
for two years, and had an aptitude for the work. When he had 
finished the time required for an apprentice according to the 
English custom, he was twenty-one years of age, and he then 
commenced working as a journeyman carpenter and assisted his 
brothers and sister. When he was twenty four years of age he 
began to keep house and do job work on his own account. His 
Bister became his housekeeper and his next younger brother was 
apprenticed to him as a joiner, and when the youngest brother 
was fourteen years of age, he, too, became his brother's ap- 
prentice. 

Thomas was the fir3t of the family who proposed going to 
America in order to improve their circumstances. He had read 



m'lean county. 327 

a groat deal of America and especially of Illinois, and on the 
nineteenth of April, 1830, all except the second son, Henry, 
embarked on an English sailing vessel at Newport in Wales for 
New York, where they arrived on the seventeenth of June. On 
board of the vessel they furnished their own bedding and pro- 
visions, and before starting, the captain took notice that all pas- 
sengers were well supplied. He was a very fine man, had been 
a captain twenty-one years and had never seen America. Their 
fare was seven pounds sterling each. They had a very favor- 
able journey, which lasted about six weeks, but at one time 
experienced a severe storm. During the storm, a little before 
sunset, a whale was seen near the vessel, but it soon disappeared. 
The next morning when everything was calm, they spied a 
vessel in distress. When they came near, the strange vessel 
was found to be an American ship bound from Bordeaux, France, 
to New York, laden with wines and perfumes. Another ship 
also came to assist the one in distress, which was found to be in 
a sinking condition. .It had already turned upon its side, but 
the crew was safely removed and divided between the two ships 
and carried to New York. One of the rescued crew was a 
sailor who had served on board a ship, which had been lost a 
year previous in the same latitude, and the poor fellow was very 
much affected by the circumstance, for he had all the supersti- 
tion for which sailors are remarkable. Mr. Williams speaks in 
very high terms of the captain, who was a Christian gentleman, 
and used all the means in his power to make the crew of the 
distressed ship comfortable, auj the men under his command 
followed his example. 

As soon as they landed in New York Mr. Williams obtained 
work in the city, while his mother and sister and youngest 
brother went to live with some distant relatives in Pennsylvania. 
Being a good workman he received two dollars per day, which, 
considering the value of money then, was good wages. Board 
and lodging were five dollars per week. He stayed three years 
in the city and three years on Long Island, always working at 
his trade. In 1832 that great pestilence, the Asiatic cholera, 
broke out in New York. It began in the latter part of June 
and lasted until September. On a single day three hundred 
cases were reported and of these one hundred and fifty died. 



328 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The corporation cars carried off from four to six coffins at once. 
The cause of this fearful mortality was seen in the condition of 
the streets, which were exceedingly unclean, and the pigs ran 
through thern without hinderance. But when the cholera broke 
out the streets were put in fine order and the pigs were not 
allowed to take their out-of-door amusement. 

In December, 1835, a great fire burned over a large tract of 
ground adjoining the East River; the buildings on seventeen 
acres of land were laid in ashes. The fire was checked with 
great difficulty as the weather was so exceedingly cold that the 
water was frozen in the hose before it could be forced on the 
burning buildings. Mr. Williams was somewhat astonished at 
the spirit of enterprise by which the whole seventeen acres were 
rebuilt by the year 1836. In 1833 he helped to build the Pavil- 
ion Hotel at Far Rockway, twenty-one miles southeast of New 
York. It was built hy a company and was destroyed by fire 
about five years ago. 

In 1836 Mr. Williams came to the W.est. He, in company 
with two families, six persons in all, formed a party. They went 
to Philadelphia by water and rail, thence to Harrisburg, Pa., by 
rail and canal ; thence by rail and canal to Pittsburg ; thence by 
water down the Ohio to Cairo, and up the Mississippi and Illi- 
nois Rivers to Pekin. They came across from Pekin to Hudson 
on a wagon drawn by a double yoke of oxen. 

Here Mr. Williams remained two years following his trade. 
In July, 1838, he moved to Bloomington. While here he has 
successfully carried on his business as a builder and contractor, 
and has done remarkably well at it. In 1850 he built the First 
Methodist Church, and can look with pride upon many fine 
buildings which have been put up under his direction. On the 
fourth of October, 1838, Mr. Williams married Miss Ann E. 
Fling of Money Creek. Her parents had emigrated to that 
place from Ohio and to Ohio from Virginia, where Mrs. Williams 
was born. Mr. Williams has a family of ten children, of whom 
seven are now living, three boys and four girls. 

So far as political matters are concerned, Mr. Williams is 
very reserved. He goes to the polls and casts his vote on elec- 
tion day and that is all. He was an "Old Line Whig" until the 
Republican party was formed when he joined that organization. 



m'lean county. 329 

When be came toBloomington the population numbered four 
or live hundred persons ; but improvements were few indeed 
before the railroads came. On his arrival in town Mr. James 
Allin offered him the use of an old log cabin to live in for one 
year free of rent. It stood near Major's Hall, and was kept for 
all new-comers, who had no place to go to. Mr. Williams was 
never much of a speculator, but he has made some good invest- 
ments, which would perhaps have been better if he had held to 
his property longer. He bought of James Allin for seven hun- 
dred dollars block No. 108 of Allin's Addition. It had one 
hundred and ninety-eight feet front on Washington street, and 
was two hundred and forty feet deep. He sold ninety-nine by 
one hundred and twenty feet to A. C. Moore for sixteen hundred 
dollars, and the north half to Ellsworth and Richardson for six- 
teen hundred dollars. It is worth now at least one hundred and 
twenty dollars per foot. On this block Mr. Williams' own resi- 
dence stands. In 1850 when he contracted to build the First 
Methodist Church he bought five acres of timber land in the 
school section for thirty-five dollars per acre. After taking from 
it one thousand dollars worth of walnut timber and two hun- 
dred cords of fire wood he sold it for two hundred dollars to 
James Depew. He bought five acres of land in what is now the 
Third Ward for sixty dollars. He took from it a great deal of 
lumber for business and his fire-wood for sixteen years and sold 
it for three hundred dollars ; it was afterwards sold with a little 
house for fifteen hundred, but its value now is out of all propor- 
tion to these figures. He bought the lot of sixty- six feet front 
of Judge Davis, where now the Burch House stands, for one 
hundred dollars, and worked out the purchase money. At pres- 
ent it is worth at least two hundred dollars per foot. 

Mr. Williams is a very muscular, hard working man. With 
the exception of a little fever and ague on his first arrival in the 
West he has never suffered from sickness. He is rather small 
in stature but very active and strong. He has worked at his 
trade fifty-four years, and can do a good day's work now. His 
eyes are gray and still very good ; he was fifty-four years of age 
before he wore spectacles. He has throughout his life sustained 
a most honorable reputation, and no man in the community 
stands higher than he in this respect. He has been very happy 



330 OLD SETTLERS OF 

in his domestic life, and has had ten children, of whom seven 
are living, and at home. They are : 

"Rebecca, born October 26, 1839, wife of H. W. Johnson. 

John Ilemw, born June 1, 1841. 

Thomas Fling, born October 25, 1850. 

Frances Allen, born December 24, 1852. 

Charles Edward, born December 11, 1854. 

Ida May, born February 8, 1857. 

Delia Ora, born February 14, 1859. 

The following are dead :• George William, born March 7, 
1843, died January 8, 1848 ; Mary Frances, born August 6, 
1845, died August 29, 1847. Sarah Allen, born December 25, 
1848, died January 16, 1851. 

Kersey H. Fell. 

Kersey H. Fell was born May 1, 1815, on a farm in Chester 
County, Pennsylvania. His ancestors were of old English 
Quaker stock, and Mr. Fell is himself a Quaker. All of the 
Fells in the United States are descended from Judge Fell, who 
came to this country from England in the year 1705. 

About forty years ago the Society of Friends was divided 
into two sects by the question of slavery. A man named Eli as 
Hicks, a Unitarian Quaker preacher, agitated for the abolition of 
slavery, and was in favor of taking all legal and moral measmv- 
for the purpose of bringing about this result. Those who be- 
lieved in this doctrine formed themselves into a separate organ- 
ization, and were called "Hicksites," and it was to this 
denomination that the Fell family belonged. The other division, 
called "Orthodox" Friends, also wished for the abolition of 
slavery, but did not think it right to interfere in the matter. 
They believed that the Lord would in his own good time bring the 
wicked system to an end, but they did not wish to hasten the 
decrees of Providence. Although slavery has been abolished 
the division among the Friends still continues. A small organ- 
ization of Orthodox Friends exists at Normal and one of the 
Hicksite or Liberal order at Benjaminville, but their numbers 
are few. Mr. Fell thinks their numbers are decreasing. Mr. 
Fell's father was a Friend, and was known as "Honest Jesse 
Fell," and his mother, whose maiden name was Rebecca Roman, 



m'lean county. 331 

was known as a ministering angel, not only in her own' society 
but among all with whom she became acquainted. 

There were nine children in the Fell family, seven boys and 
two girls, and it may well be supposed that great exertion was 
required to provide for them and educate them properly. Mr. 
Fell attended a common school three months iu the year until 
he was seventeen. At this time he had the misfortune to dislo- 
cate his shoulder which unfitted him for farm work, and he 
determined to obtain more schooling. Jonathan Gause, a noble 
hearted Friend, kept the West Bradford boarding school in 
Pennsylvania, and to him Mr. Fell made application for admis- 
sion, but was poor and could not pay his tuition. But Jonathan 
took the poor student into his establishment for six months, 
though it was contrary to his custom. Mr. Fell promised to pay 
some time in the future, and Jonathan answered : "I will trust 
thee." Mr. Fell afterwards taught school and earned money to 
pay this obligation, and also to obtain money to come "West. 

He came to Bloomington, Illinois, in the spring of 1836, 
about six months before Judge David Davis came. It was his 
purpose to visit his brothers Jesse and Thomas, who had arrived 
some time previous, and then go to a Manual Labor College 
near Hannibal, Missouri, started by a certain Dr. Stiles Ely, of 
Philadelphia. Dr. Stiles Ely was a Presbyterian minister and 
a great theorist and his pamphlet, which was widely circulated, 
caused a great sensation. But his theory was better than his 
practice. He selected the location for his college during a dry 
season and did not guard against the chances of rain. During 
the following season "the rains descended and the floods came" 
and washed his college away, and the people who had gathered 
there were obliged to flee to save themselves from drowning. 
Dr. Ely lost a fortune in this undertaking, which promised fair 
had he selected a better location. 

Mr. Fell learned while in Bloomington of the disaster which 
overtook Dr. Ely, and, as his plans were broken up, took a situ- 
ation as clerk with Messrs. O. Covcl and A. Gridley, merchants. 
But it was Mr. Fell's intention to study law and he had by no 
means given up his plan. lie had occasion to go to Springfield 
in the interest of his employers and while there called at the 
office of the Hon. J. T. Stuart who was practicing law. Here he 



382 OLD SETTLERS OF 

met Abraham Lincoln, a young law student. After some con- 
versation with young Abraham, Mr. Fell came to the conclusion 
that, if Mr. Lincoln could study law with as little education as 
he had, Mr. Fell would do the same, and he hesitated no longer. 
He read law in his leisure hours. During the following winter 
he was appointed clerk with the power to organize DeWitt 
County. His appointment was probably made through the influ- 
ence of his brother Jesse. Jesse W. Fell and James Miller had 
previously laid out the town of Clinton, and they wished it to be 
the county seat. The county was formed from parts of Macon 
and McLean counties. Mr. Fell kept this position from the 
winter of 1838-39 until 1840. During that year all the 
Whig judges and clerks were legislated out of office by the 
Democrats, and Mr. Fell, being a Whig, was obliged to lose his 
position. fie went to Bloomington and became deputy clerk of 
the circuit court under General Covel, who, being a Democrat, 
had been re-appointed to his office. While in this position Mr. 
Fell studied law and during the winter of 1840-41 he passed 
his examination before the nine judges of the Supreme Court at 
Springfield and was admitted to the bar. He speaks very feel- 
ingly of the terror he felt while thinking of the ordeal of the 
examination when nine pairs of spectacles should be leveled at 
him. But they admitted him and made the young and deserving 
man happy. Before being admitted to the bar he had formed a 
partnership with Albert Dodd, a promising young lawyer from 
Connecticut. He and Mr. Dodd continued their partnership 
until 1844. During that year Dodd was drowned in crossing the 
Mackinaw River, while returning from a convention at Joliet. 
This was the convention which nominated John Wentworth 
(Long John) for Congress for the first time. Dodd would prob- 
ably have been nominated himself had he lived a little longer. 
While he was absent in attendance at the convention Dodd was 
nominated in Bloomington for the Legislature. Mr. Fell was at 
this time attending court at Springfield and was there detained 
by the flood and did not learn of his partner's death until ten 
days after it occurred. The flood during that year was fearful. 
The Mississippi River rose so high that a great part of Cairo 
was swept away. After the death of Dodd, Mr. Fell practiced 
alone in his profession until the year 1856, when he gave it up, 
making room for the generation of young lawyers. 



m'lean county. 333 

Mr. Fell belonged to a class of lawyers which it is feared 
does not include the entire legal profession. He always tried to 
settle a case before taking it into court. There is a German 
proverb which says : "A meager making up is better than a fat 
law suit." Whether Mr. Fell ever heard of this we do not 
know ; but he always did what he could to arrange matters 
fairly and impartially without taking the case into court. He 
thinks this should be the lawyer's course, and that it really pays 
better in the end ; for by settling cases fairly he sometimes 
gained his opponents for his clients. "Blessed are the peace- 
makers." 

In the fall of 1844, after the death of Albert Dodd, Mr. Fell 
took the young man's books, papers and correspondence to his 
father in Connecticut. When he arrived in Hartford, the people 
were having a great time with the Millerites. The day after his 
arrival there was the one set by Miller for the end of the world 
and was a time of great excitement. Many of the followers of 
Miller had given away all of their property, expecting to need 
it no longer, and were standing around the streets in long gar- 
ments, expecting the call which should translate them to another 
world. Mr. Fell retired late that evening, as he had watched 
pretty sharply for the angel which was to bring on the millennium. 
At a late hour the angel had not put in an appearance and Mr-. 
Fell went to sleep. The next morning he was awakened by the 
most fearful sound that ever smote his ears. He sprang up 
thinking that the millennium must certainly have come, but 
found that the noise proceeded from a hotel gong, which was the 
first he had ever heard. 

From Hartford Mr. Fell went to New York where the Whig 
convention, which nominated Henry Clay for President, was in 
session. At this convention were some of the great lights of 
the Whig party. They formed a procession through the city, 
which required two hours in passing a single point. In order 
to obtain a good view of it Mr. Fell climbed up on a corner of 
the fence surrounding the square and, as the weather was severe, 
he was alternately frozen with cold and warmed with excite- 
ment. All of the trades were represented in this proces- 
sion. The printers struck off bills and dispatches and scattered 
them among the crowd, and each of the trades was distinguished 



334 OLD SETTLERS OF 

in an appropriate manner. The crowd along the line of march 
was partially composed of Democrats, who attempted at times 
to hinder and annoy the procession, and occasionally succeeded J 
but when the butchers passed along their brawny and muscular 
appearance made the crowd respectfully give way ! 

In the evening a grand meeting was held out of doors, 
and a large platform was erected for the distinguished lights of 
the party. When many strangers had spoken, a loud call was 
made for Horace Greeley. Mr. Greeley came forward. He was 
then a tall, slender young man, with light hair, a white face, and 
dressed in a plain suit of drab. His speech was short, but it 
went to the root of the matter, and touched the heart of the 
people. 

From New York Mr. Fell went to Philadelphia, and from 
there to Chester County, where he found the lady who was to 
be his wife. They were married in Philadelphia on the first day 
of January, 1845. Her name was Jane Price. Her family came 
from old English stock. Mr. Fell has a happy family of eight 
children, five boys and three girls. 

Mr. Fell's parents came West with the entire family in 1837. 
His mother died in October, 1846, and his father, who was totally 
blind during the last twelve years of his life, died in the fall of 
1853. The children took pride in making the last years of the 
old gentleman's life pleasant, and sustained him on his down 
hill journey. 

Mr. Fell has never been a candidate for any public office, or 
sought one. He has great aversion to seeking office and would 
not work or scheme for one, however lucrative. He has held 
some offices but they have involved much work and no pay. 

In 1856, at the State Convention in Bloomiugton, Mr. Fell 
nominated Abraham Lincoln as a delegate to the National Con- 
vention at Philadelphia. Lincoln arose and declined on account 
of his poverty and business engagements; but he consented to 
go if his business would allow him, when Mr. Fell promised that 
his expenses should be paid. At last it was arranged that in 
case Lincoln could not leave, Mr. Fell should go in his place. 
About two hours before the time to start Mr. Fell received a 
dispatch from Lincoln, saying that the latter was unable to leave, 
and Mr. Fell therefore went in his place. At this convention 



m'lban county. 335 

Lincoln received one hundred and fifteen votes on the first bal- 
lot for Vice President, But on the second ballot his name was 
withdrawn by the Illinois delegation, with the intention of put- 
ting him forward at some future day for President. 

Mr. Kersey Fell was probably the first man who thought 
seriously of making Abraham Lincoln a candidate for President 
of the United States. He mentioned the matter first to his 
brother Jesse, but the latter did not immediately think favorably 
of the matter. But after a little reflection he favored it and 
spoke of it to Judge David Davis. Mr. Davis did not at first 
think well of it, but after some steps were taken to bring Mr. 
Lincoln's name before the public, Mr. Davis favored the move- 
ment strongly and worked with all his might to make it suc- 
cessful. Mr. K. H. Fell mentioned the matter of Lincoln's 
proposed candidacy to Judge Joseph J. Lewis of West Chester, 
Pennsylvania, and Judge Lewis wrote a biography of Mr. Lin- 
coln which was widely circulated. The items and information 
for this biography were furnished by Mr. Jesse W. Fell. Mr. 
Kersey Fell did everything in his power to forward Lincoln's 
chances, and called out his name as a candidate for president at 
a mass meeting held at West Chester, Pennsylvania. Mr. Fell 
spared no exertions, and in 1860 the object was accomplished 
and Mr. Lincoln was nominated by the Republican party at 
Chicago and triumphantly elected by the nation. Mr. Fell was 
long and intimately acquainted with Mr. Liucoln, and states what 
is well known to the legal profession, that if Lincoln thought he 
was right in any case in which he was engaged he was invin- 
cible ; but if he thought his cause unjust he was weak and his 
arguments without force. He was one of the most tender- 
hearted of men. W T hile on his circuit in the village of Pontiac, 
the hotel where he stayed was crowded and he slept in a small 
detached house. The night was stormy, and a little cat outside 
made a pitiful noise and wished to come in. The thought of the 
suffering cat troubled Lincoln so much that he could not sleep 
until he had opened the door and let the poor creature in. 

Mr. Fell did not take part in the canvass of 1860 as his health 
was very poor. During that year he went to Europe, visiting 
Switzerland, Vienna, and many other interesting places, but 
returned in the fall to east his vote for Abraham Lincoln. 



336 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Fell has filled many positions with more benefit to the 
community than profit to himself. He is now a member of the 
Board of Education of Bloomington and attends to the duties 
of his position with fidelity. lie knows the value of an educa- 
tion and struggled hard for it when in youth, and he is anxious 
that the children of to-day shall all of them have a chance to 
learn. 

Mr. Fell is not a large man in appearance and is slenderly 
built, but he is well proportioned and very active. His hair is 
gray and his beard is almost white. His nose is aquiline and is 
bridged with spectacles when he reads or writes. He is a deep 
thinker and forms his opinions with great care. Good nature 
appears in his countenance and there are few men in the com- 
munity so much respected and honored. 

William F. Flagg. 

"William F. Flagg was born April 2, 1808, on a farm in 
Boilston township, Worcester County, Massachusetts, about 
forty miles from Boston. His ancestors came from English 
stock. His grandfathers were both soldiers in the Revolution- 
ary war. He had four brothers and one sister ; of these, his 
sister and two brothers are yet living. He received his scanty 
education in a district school until he was eighteen years of age. 
He then went to Worcester to learn his trade of architect and 
builder. While there he was employed by his master on 
churches and public buildings for three years. This terminated 
his apprenticeship. He then went to work on his own account. 

At the age of twenty-five he married Miss Sarah Walker of 
Natick. This place is twenty miles from Boston, and is the 
home of Henry Wilson, the Vice President elect. At that time 
Mr. Wilson was working at his trade as a cobbler. 

In 1836 Mr. Flagg determined to go West. Before going 
he traded his property in Worcester for some in Bloomington, 
and in course of time his trade turned out to be veiw profitable. 
He came to Bloomington alone in August, 1836, and his family 
followed in the spring of 1837. He immediately engaged in 
his trade as a builder, and in 1837 built a court house for Putnam 
County. During the following year he built a court house for 
Tazewell County, and in 1839 and 1840, he built a court house 



m'lban county. 337 

ami jail at LaSalle. During this year he bought one hundred 
and seventy acres of land northeast of Bloomington (joining the 
city limits) for which he paid #4,000. This was considered an ex- 
orbitant price, but since then he lias received as much as two 
thousand dollars for a single acre laid out in building lots. 

Ground was first broken for the Illinois Central Railroad in 
front of Mr. Flagg's door in June, 1852, and cars were running 
the following year. He formerly owned a tract of land em- 
bracing the present location of the Lafayette depot, and in 1847 
he built on it saw mills and machine shops. In 1855 he built 
the Bloomington Works, now owned by K. H. Fell & Co. 
He managed these works until the year 1865. From 1865 to 
1870 he was engaged in laying out second and third additions to 
Bloomington, and he built and caused to be built about one hun- 
dred residences. In 1856 he, in connection with Judge Davis 
and William II. Allin, laid out the so-called Durley addition. 

In 1870 Mr. Flagg built the Empire Machine Works, close 
to the Illinois Central Railroad. They are carried on under the 
name and style of the company of the Empire Machine Works. 
They keep one hundred men constantly engaged in manufactur- 
ing agricultural implements and building materials, and are in- 
deed a credit to the city. 

Mr. Flagg has been twice married and has an interesting- 
family of three sons and two daughters living. 

He tells a curious anecdote of Mr. Lincoln. In 1848 Mr. 
Flagg commenced manufacturing reapers and was sued for an 
infringement of patent by C. W. McCormick, and damages were 
laid at $20,000. Abraham Lincoln was employed as counsel 'for 
the defendant. The suit was carried on for two years in the 
United States Court at Springfield, and Mr. McCormick was 
finally beaten. Shortly after this Mr. Lincoln met Mr. Flagg 
on the street in Bloomington and sauntered into the latter's shop. 
Mr. Flagg asked how much the attorney's fee would be. Mr. 
Lincoln leaned on the counter, rested his head on his arm, and 
after a little consideration said : " I think ten dollars will pay 
me for my trouble !" Mr. Flagg says that nothing could induce 
Mr. Lincoln to take more and adds : " At the present day our 
lawyers would have demanded just about one thousand !" 

22 



338 OLD SETTLERS OF 

When Mr. Flagg came to Illinois every event was dated from 
the Black Hawk war. In this war a man named McCullough 
was high private. Among the many incidents related of this 
war, it is said that when our soldiers first went out to meet the 
Indians the latter made so strong an attack that our men became 
terrified and took to their heels ; but McCullough, the high pri- 
vate, alone stood the fire, and was not afraid to meet the enemy. 
This circumstance is a little exaggerated, but it will do to tell as 
a story. 

Mr. Flagg is rather above the medium height. He is broad- 
shouldered and well built. He has a sharply pointed nose and 
a penetrating eye. Business and speculation are seen in his 
countenance. He gives one the impression that where many 
will lose money he will make some. His beard and hair are 
turning gray, but his spirit is as strong as ever. The new resi- 
dence which he is erecting shows him to be as energetic and ac- 
tive as in his youthful days. 

John Edward McClun. 

John Edward McClun was born on the nineteenth of Feb- 
ruary, 1812, in Frederick County, Virginia. His ancestors on 
his father's side were members of the Society of Friends. His 
mother's father, whose name was Bailey, was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, and died in the army. John Edward was the 
youngest son of a family of eight children, seven boys and one 
girl ; the latter was an adopted daughter. The circumstances 
of the family were far from easy, and in early life young John 
worked hard. His father died when John was only seven or 
eight years of age, and the family was obliged to toil hard for 
support. 

It is worthy of remark that a very large proportion of the 
men who are successful in life have had good mothers, and very 
many, if not all, of our old settlers speak of their mothers with 
affection and reverence. Judge McClun says : " If I have 
anything commendable in my character I certainly owe it all 
under God to my mother ; she taught me to be honest, and I 
have tried so to live ; she taught me always to be employed at 
something, and I have tried to be industrious ; she taught me to 
speak evil of no man or woman so far as I could avoid it, and 



m'lean county. 339 

the observance of that rule has wonderfully smoothed the as- 
perities of my life ; she taught me the fear of the Lord, and I 
have always been able to realize through a long life that God 
was around and about my pathway." She must indeed have 
been an excellent lady and a woman of great moral elevation, 
for she made an impression upon her son in his tender years, 
which is deep and decided after the lapse of half a century. 

Young John was a great pet with his brothers, and when 
they came home from work he was in the habit of running out 
to meet them to be carried back by them in triumph. He re- 
members particularly his brother Jefferson, whose death affected 
him very much, and he describes it now as the " most tender 
event of his whole life." 

Young John wished an education, but the way to get it was 
a puzzle. He was eighteen years of age when, by the greatest 
economy on his own part and the greatest sacrifice on the part 
of his mother, he was sent to the Middletown common school. 
The accommodations were none of the best. The school-house 
was made of logs daubed with clay, and the benches had no 
backs. The schoolmaster is described as a " small, spare, sharp- 
visaged young man, with eyes approaching in color to green." 
His new scholar did not appear to much advantage. John was 
but recently recovered from a severe illness and his color was 
cadaverous. He wore a long-tailed drab overcoat which ex- 
tended to his feet, and had a number of old-fashioned capes 
falling in succession about his shoulders. Nevertheless he was 
a good scholar, and made rapid headway with his lessons. When 
spring came he left school and went to work, but even then he 
did not neglect his books. He studied his grammar while plow- 
ing, and says that " while those fat, lazy horses belonging to the 
man to whom I was hired at seven dollars per month, were turn- 
ing at the end of the furrow, I was busy with my grammar, and 
by the end of the season I had committed the whole to memo- 
ry. * * 'Necessity is the mother of invention,' and the tail 
of the plow after all is not a bad place to study grammar." 

In the fall he returned to school, where he made rapid pro- 
gress, and the next year obtained a situation as a teacher in a 
little log school-house. In a little room about eighteen feet 
square were forty scholars of all ages from six to twenty-one. 



340 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The text books used in the school were written by a great varie- 
ty of authors. Pike, Jess, Parke and Dabold had written arith- 
metics, and they were all used in the school. The schoolmaster 
had to be lively to do all the " sums." Mr. McClun taught 
school three years and then determined to come West. He 
starter] on horseback, and after traveling through some of the 
Western States he returned for his mother. They started in a 
little two-horse wagon in October, 1835. But winter set in be- 
fore they could get through to Illinois, and Mr. McClun left his 
mother at his brother Robert's residence in Indiana, and went 
on to Springfield, Illinois, where he arrived on the fourth of 
December. 

Judge McClun describes Illinois very particularly. He says 
that the population of the State was then about two hundred 
and fifty thousand. The improvements consisted of log cabins 
near the groves while the prairies were bare. The grass grew 
high, and the deer and wolves roamed in droves, with little to 
molest or make them afraid. The streams were unbridged, 
crossings were difficult, teams were swamped in the sloughs and 
had to be pulled out by oxen. The people lived plainly and 
simply ; the men wore home-made clothing, and the garments 
of the ladies were sometimes of the same material and some- 
times of the cheaper kind of store goods. The oxen that broke 
the prairie were frequently used to draw the people to church. 
Preaching was held at the private houses, for meeting houses 
were not built except in a few of the towns. 

In the summer time the green-head flies made traveling across 
the prairies difficult and even dangerous. Mails were seldom, 
and newspapers few. Chicago was a village of a few shanties 
on Lake Michigan. The houses of the most wealthy consisted 
usually of one room. A log fire ten feet long warmed the fami- 
ly, cooked the provisions, and rendered the bed room comforta- 
ble. The eating, sleeping and cooking were all done in one 
room, and that with the greatest propriety. " The family, the 
workhands and the visitors all lodged in close proximity to one- 
another, and without much trouble. The men generally retired 
first, and afterwards the ladies. Everything was not only done 
decently and in order but with the utmost delicacy and proprie- 
ty. This manner of life in no way contributed to indelicacy, for 



m'lean county. 341 

nearly all men would be gentlemen under such circumstances. 
The people were for the most part a moral and religious people, 
and Christianity was universally respected." 

When the stranger remained over night at one of these log 
cabins, he might at first be rendered uneasy by the roughness 
of the people, and by the guns upon the hooks, but when a 
blessing was asked at supper he would feel reassured. Such was 
Illinois in 1835, given partly in Judge McClun's own language. 

Springfield was then a lively place, as the capitol of the State 
was soon to be taken there from Vandalia. It was full of ad- 
venturers and speculators. John T. Stuart was then a rising 
lawyer and politician. Stephen A. Douglas, who was then com- 
mencing the practice of law in Jacksonville, sometimes made 
his appearance in Springfield. He was described as " a very 
boyish looking little giant." Abraham Lincoln was then living 
at Salem, in Sangamon County. 

During Mr. McClun's first winter in Illinois he could find 
nothing to do, and his money melted rapidly away. At last he 
met a young man named Thorp, who had contracted for a stock 
of goods, provided he could give security, and asked Mr. McClun 
tobecome his bail ! The latter agreed to the arrangement and 
the goods were actually forwarded on the credit of these two pen- 
niless young men ! Young Thorp went East for his wife, and Mr. 
McClun sold the goods at a fair profit and paid the parties who 
had so strangely trusted them. Being disappointed in a mer- 
cantile partnership with a friend from Virginia, Mr. McClun 
finally found business in Waynesville, McLean County, where 
he entered the store of David Duncan as a clerk. This was dur- 
ing the last of June, 1836. "Waynesville, though a new town, 
did considerable business even at that early day. The town, 
however, had no tavern, no church, no school house, and no post 
office. The nearest post office was at Bloomington. Dry goods 
and groceries were sold in considerable quantities, and whisky 
and tobacco were in great demand. Saturday was the great day 
of trade, and then the people came in from all quarters to pur- 
chase the necessaries of life, discuss politics, talk about their 
farms, wrestle, run foot races, run horses, &c, and a Saturday 
that wound up without a fight was considered very dull. Nev- 
ertheless, even then Waynesville contained some tine families, 



342 OLD SETTLERS OF 

whom anyone might have been proud to number among his 
friends. 

Judge McClun first saw Bloomington in the fall of 1836, but 
did not locate here until the spring of 1837, when he went into 
business on his own account as a merchant. He describes the 
place at that time as follows : 

"It was even then, young and new as it was, a beautiful little 
city set upon a hill. It contained about three hundred inhabi- 
tants. The houses were small, plain and cheaply built, yet they 
were painted white, which gave to the place an air of neatness 
and beauty. The improvements were then on Front street and 
south of that. There was nothing on the public square but the 
old brick court house then being built. The slough north of 
the bridge where Bridge Fork now is was a wide marsh. Pone 
Hollow was also a marsh, even wider than the other. The grove 
extended in a scattering manner up to Grove street. The prai- 
rie came up to the town in a state of nature, except a few farms. 
The deer roamed at large on the prairie, and the wolves 
howled a chorus in what is now the heart of the town. Quails 
and prairie chickens were plenty. Rattlesnakes crawled through 
the town, and now and then the bull snake, that monster of the 
prairie, would crawl into the very heart of the city. One single 
buggy, and only one, was in the county of McLean. We had 
no gold watches nor gold chains. We had no sidewalks, and 
when the roads became muddy we put our pants in the tops of 
our boots and launched fearlessly forth into the great deep. 
When I came to Bloomington David Davis had just succeeded 
J. W. Fell in the practice of the law. General Covel and Col- 
onel Gridley were prominent and leading citizens. James Allin 
was the most prominent man of the place, and the wealthiest 
citizen. Dr. Henry was here, and Doctors Anderson and Haines 
were practicing physicians. Dr. Baker was clerk of the Circuit 
Court, and Welcome P. Brown was Probate Judge and city 
Postmaster. Ort. Covel was selling goods and William H. Tem- 
ple was a young man in a store. Rev. Mr. Foster preached and 
taught in the old Academy, and John Rockhold made shingles 
for the newly made houses. Allen Withers merchandized, and 
William Dimmitt lived upon the site he now occupies, which 
was then a great ways from town. A. Brokaw was working as 



m'lean county. 343 

a journeyman and Gaylord kept the old tavern. The old Meth- 
odist church was then being built, and the Rev. Zadoc Hall was 
the circuit rider. John Magoun had just come. He laid the 
brick for the city and country, and did the plastering with old 
Mr. Guthrie, of the same profession. William G. Thompson 
and Benjamin Haines were here, and Wilson Allin had already 
built a mill." 

On the last day of January, 1839, Mr. McClun married Han- 
nah Harkness. 

His mercantile adventure in Bloomington had prospered 
well, so far, but the hard times came, the most severe ever 
known in the West. Judge McClun says that the summer of 
1842 was "the bottom of the distress." It was customary for 
the merchants to receive pork in payment of goods, but with the 
fall prices the pork they had accepted became almost worthless. 
Mr. McClun went to Baltimore, where he had shipped his pork, 
and found the times there even worse. He says : "If the West 
was prostrate, the East was in even a worse fix. Commercial 
distress was everywhere felt and everywhere seen. Failures 
were an hourly occurrence, and there was no reliable money but 
gold and silver, and it was locked up. Manufactories had 
stopped and their goods were thrown upon the market at ruin- 
ous prices. Everything was completely prostrate. I have never 
seen the like before nor since. My pork could not be sold even 
to realize the cost of transportation." This condition of things 
troubled the young merchant very much, but he bore the storm 
and was successful in the end. He understood his business and 
managed it. well. He had credit even in the darkest times. At 
one time, when he was so closely pushed that he did not himself 
dare to ask for credit, and when almost his only assets were 
depreciated Illinois money, he saw his creditors in Philadelphia 
and told them his circumstances. When he had done so a good 
old Quaker merchant said to him : "I believe thou art an honest 
man, and we will do the best we can for thee." They let him 
have a new stock of goods, and he showed by his good manage- 
ment that their confidence was well placed. 

On the first of June, 1843, the mother of Judge McClun, 
who had followed her son to Bloomington, passed from earth to 
a happier world than this. She had taken a cold during the 



344 OLD SETTLERS OF 

preceding fall, which resulted in a quick consumption, and she 
saw her change approaching and was reconciled to death. Judge 
McCltin says : "During the month of May when the flowers 
were out and the birds singing, she asked me to take her to the 
door that she might look once more on this beautiful world, and 
it was her last look, unless she has since looked down from the 
hills of immortality." 

In 1843-44 the merchants began to recover from the shock 
'given by the hard times. Confidence was restored and people 
were again prosperous. During this year political excitement 
was very high, though not so high as during the campaign of 
1840. The cock was the emblem of the Democrats and the coon 
that of the Whigs, and when a Democratic victory was an- 
nounced the cock was crowing over the coon, and when the 
"Whigs were victorious the coon was eating the cock. Henry 
Clay was the candidate of the Whigs, but he was doomed to 
defeat, for James K. Polk was carried through by the feeling in 
favor of the Mexican war. 

Judge McClun has had some experience with the law and his 
advice to all persons is to keep out of its entanglements. The 
intention is to make the law a rule of right, but there is a "glo- 
rious uncertainty" in the practice. 

Mr. McClun obtained the mail contracts from 1842 to 1846, 
of all routes coming into Bloomington or passing through it, 
and by careful management he was enabled to do quite well with 
them. All these mails were carried on horseback, except the 
one from Peoria to Danville, which was taken in two-horse coaches. 
They were carried three times a week, with considerable regu- 
larity. Carrying the mail was sometimes attended with great 
difficulty. The sloughs were unbridged and the carriages were 
sometimes swamped in them and had to be pulled out by oxen. 
Sometimes when the roads were very bad the drivers would put 
the mail in a queens ware crate on the fore-wheels of a wagon ; 
to this they would attach three horses, and go through. The 
lead-horse was usually able to reach solid ground and pull the 
.. remainder of the concern after him. The drivers were some- 
times lost on dark nights and during snow storms. They were 
occasionally stopped by swollen streams, and in cold weather 
they often frosted their ears, noses and feet. 



m'lean county. 345 

But Judge McClun did pretty well with his contraets. Oat8 
cost only eight or ten cents per bushel and hay three or four 
dollars per ton, while good horses could be obtained for forty or 
fifty dollars a piece. All other expenses were in this proportion, 
so that the very things which were disastrous to the country 
made his mail contracts profitable. 

In 1849 Mr. McClun was elected County Judge. The vote 
polled at that election was 1,365 for the whole county and there 
was a full turn out. He held the office until the spring of 1852 
when he found himself unable to endure the confinement, and 
resigned. He attended faithfully to the duties of his office 
while he held it, although it subjected him to a great deal of 
trouble and annoyance. 

In 1852 the Illinois Central Railroad passed through Bloom- 
ington, and cars commenced running. A great change took 
place ; land became valuable, and real estate of all kinds rose in 
the market. 

In 1852 Judge McClun was elected to the Legislature and 
was re-elected at the end of his term. He served until the end 
of the session of 1857. During this term he served four years 
on the State Board of Agriculture. At this time, too, he was 
superintendent of a Sunday.School, an active steward in the 
church and a live member of the McLean County Agricultural 
Society. He took a great interest in the organization of the 
Sons of Temperance, and in many other matters of public impor- 
tance. It will thus be seen that he had enough to think of 
during his leisure hours! He was also a trustee of the Wes- 
leyan University, and this institution being still in its infancy 
greatly taxed his time and energy. His experience as an office- 
holder has taught him not to seek for promotion in official life, 
for there is very little in it but vanity and vexation of spirit. It 
is well known that Judge McClun has accepted the various pub- 
lic positions, which have been offered him, simply as duties to 
be performed, and that when his term of service expired, he 
asked only to be relieved of the responsibilities of public life. 
He was chairman of the first Board of Supervisors in 1858, 
after the county adopted township organization, and has always 
favored this system of managing county business. 



346 OLD SETTLERS OF 

In politics he was an Old Line Whig, and afterwards a 
Republican, but during the last campaign he acted with the 
Democrats and Liberals. In early days he took a particular 
interest in the emancipation of the slaves, and when, during the 
war, the proclamation was made that freed the slaves no one was 
more gratified than he. 

Judge McClun takes the greatest interest in Bloomington 
and McLean County, and, indeed, in the whole State. Their 
progress and their prospects are very dear to him. . He has seen 
the city grow up from an' insignificant village; he has seen the 
county changed from a wilderness to one of the leading counties 
in the State, and he has seen the State increase from two hundred 
and fifty thousand people to two and a half millions. He says : 
"I have been in Illinois for almost thirty-eight years. The wil- 
derness and solitary places have been made glad, and the desert 
has blossomed as the rose, and yet the next thirty-eight years 
will be just as full of changes and improvements. Bloomington 
now has twenty thousand inhabitants, and then it will have fifty 
thousand souls. Her manufactories will be sending up their 
smoke from her workshops in all parts of the city. The spires 
of her new churches will be pointing towards heaven, and sur- 
rounding lands, now cultivated as farms, will be covered with 
houses." 

It will be seen in the foregoing sketch that Judge McClun is 
a man of the strictest integrity in his business, and he is no less 
careful as a father of a family. We re-produce here some of 
the advice given by him to his children, although it was not 
written for publication : 

"Hear, my children, a few words of advice from your father. 
Be honest in all the transactions of your life to the smallest 
fraction. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. 
Be known as gentlemen and ladies wherever you are known. It 
is a very easy matter to point out a well-bred gentleman or lady 
anywhere, and I hope you will always be so distinguished. Say 
all the good you can of every person, and as little harm as pos- 
sible ; and, especially of women-kind, never even listen to an 
evil report. This rule, so far as I have kept it, has wonderfully 
smoothed the pathway of my life. Never be idle, pitch into any 
kind of honorable employment rather than be seen idle. Idle- 
ness has been the first cause of the downfall of most of the men 



m'lean county. 347 

and women I have known ruined. Avoid bad habits of every 
kind, and especially the use of intoxicating drinks and tobacco. 
Endeavor to make everybody happy. Courtesy and kind words 
cost nothing, and yet are of great value. Make the world a 
little better as you pass through it. Cultivate self-government 
and self-control. Govern yourselves and then you may influ- 
ence people around you. Let your thoughts be pure thoughts, 
and then indeed will your lives be pure lives. Be modest. How 
I love to see modesty. Do not talk too much ; the silent people 
get through the world best. Even a fool, Solomon says, will be 
counted wise if he but holds his tongue. Don't seek office. If 
positions be thrust upon you, fill them like men, but do not be 
office-seekers. Say no, emphatically, and without hesitation, 
when you ought to say it. Never read obscene books or listen 
to obscene stories. Be saving in your expenses and study econ- 
omy in your families. A little saved in the beginning of your 
life will make you rich in the end. Love your homes. Make 
them your delight, yea, your heaven upon earth and let thern be 
models of neatness and happiness. Be kind to the poor, and 
considerate to the unfortunate, for you know not how soon you 
may be in their condition. Above all make a public profession 
of Christ, and serve God with a perfect heart and a willing 
mind. The Christian's faith will make you strong to withstand 
the troubles and disappointments of life. It will be your conso- 
lation in sorrows, bereavements and death, and constantly point 
you to that bright and beautiful land, where your parents are 
gone, and where, if virtuous and good, we will again be 
united as a family. How sweet the thought to meet again as 
parents and children in Heaven's Eternal Home." 

As to personal appearance, Judge McClun is about the medium 
height ; has broad shoulders ; his forehead is broad ; his nose 
is aquiline and very prominent; he wears spectacles when he 
reads or writes ; his hair and beard were once dark but now are 
turning gray. Good nature is stamped on his face ; he has a 
hearty, polite manner of speaking, and it is very evident that 
his politeness is that of the heart. His voice is melodious and 
pleasant, and gives confidence to the bashful; he loves mankind 
and especially children, and wishes earnestly to see people 
happy and made better. He is straightforward in every trans- 



348 OLD SETTLERS OF 

action, and no one stands higher throughout the country than 
he. For twenty years he was superintendent of the Methodist 
Sunday-School in Bloomingtou. 

Judge McClun has had eleven children, of whom five are 
living. They are : 

Elisha H., married and lives in Bloomingtou. 

Isaac B., married and lives in Bloomingtou. 

Robert, lives at home. 

Esther E., wife of Foreman Martin, lives in Chicago. 

Edward, lives at home. 

Abraham Brokaw. 

Abraham Brokaw r was born November 6, 1815, on a farm in 
Somerset County, New Jersey. His father was of French and 
Dutch descent. His great grandfather was a Huguenot who 
emigrated from France to Holland at an early day on account 
of religious persecution. It is now pretty well understood 
among civilized people that each man is to be held accountable 
for his opinion of the great Hereafter, only to the Supreme 
Being, who rules the Universe. But in early days the French 
held the paternal theory that the State should kindly relieve its 
citizens of the trouble of thinking for themselves in religious 
matters. They thought they would glorify God and lay up 
treasure in heaven by burning or banishing heretics on earth. 
The Huguenots, who insisted on being the guardians of their 
own consciences, were the best of French citizens; they were 
the artizans wdiose skill made France the " grand nation," the 
most eminent among the kingdoms of the earth. They man- 
aged the looms and spindles and were engaged in various useful 
trades, and in return they asked only the privilege of worship- 
ping God as they thought proper. But this was not to be; they 
were expelled from their country and settled principally in Hol- 
land and in the various German States. Mr. Brokaw's great 
grandfather settled in Holland and the family became identified 
in all its interests w T ith the thrifty and enterprising Dutch. But 
America was at last the resting-place of the persecuted Hugue- 
not. He came here, and here the family has displayed that same 
industry and real love of work which characterized the artizans 



m'lean county. 349 

of France. William Brokaw, the father of Abraham, was of 
French and Dutch descent, and his wife, the mother of Abra- 
ham, was descended from the Dutch. She was a quiet and un- 
assuming lady, but very industrious. She was a very religious 
woman and belonged to the Dutch "Reformed Church. All of 
the letters which she wrote to her son gave evidence of her deep 
religious convictions, although she never asked him to join any 
church, being willing to rely on his own judgment in that matter. 
She died of palsy in New Jersey in 1843, when she was about 
forty-five years of age. Mr. Brokaw does not belong to any 
religious denomination, but is a supporter of the Second Pres- 
byterian Church. 

Mr. Brokaw's early education was not extended and was 
finished when he was twelve years of age. He was obliged to 
depend upon his industry and his good sense to make his way in 
the world. He worked on his father's farm until the ae:e of 
eighteen, when he was apprenticed as a wheelwright to Darius 
Gilmore of Mechanicsville. In 1836 Mr. Gilmore came to the 
West bringing Abraham with him. As the wagons were heavily 
loaded the latter was obliged to walk. At that time the Mor- 
mon excitement was very high and proselytes to the faith of 
Joe Smith were coming from all directions. Mr. Gilmore and 
Abraham were often mistaken for Mormons. Mr. Gilmore went 
to Springfield and there Mr. Brokaw finished his apprenticeship 
under another master. But the wages he earned belonged to 
Mr. Gilmore. Mr. Brokaw had then become a workman of great 
skill ; he earned the very highest wages, but they were drawn 
by his old master. 

In October, 1836, Mr. Brokaw's apprenticeship came to an 
end, and he began to calculate for himself. During the Novem- 
ber following he formed a partnership with one Jacob Leader, 
and they came to Bloomington on foot to try their fortunes. Mr. 
Brokaw carried with him a letter of introduction to Lewis Bunn 
and found the latter out in the woods making charcoal. The 
exercise of walking had flushed Abraham's cheeks, and when he 
presented the letter, was directed to read it. When it was 
finished Mr. Bunn looked at the flushed cheeks of young Abra- 
ham and said : " I do not thank my friend for sending me a 
drinking: man !" but was satisfied when he learned that the 



350 OLD SETTLERS OF 

"flush was not produced by wine or rye whisky, but by youth and 
health and exercise. The young wheelwrights, Brokaw and 
Leader, employed Lewis Bunn to build them a shop, and de- 
posited fifty dollars with him to buy lumber for them to com- 
mence their business. But shortly afterwards they returned to 
Springfield and while there Mr. Leader became afraid of their 
contract with Bunn, and as the hard times were coming on and 
banks were breaking he backed out. Mr. Brokaw also wished 
to withdraw from the contract and offered Mr. Bunn the fifty 
dollars which had been deposited with him, but the latter refused 
to accept it. Mr. Bunn built the shop on his own land and 
leased it to Mr. Brokaw who had returned to Bloomington. Mr. 
Brokaw opened business. He made the first wagon manufac- 
tured in McLean County, for Elijah Hedrick of Randolph Grove, 
but it was sold to Dr. Thomas Karr. During the next six years 
Mr. Brokaw worked very hard, but it seemed almost impossible 
to accumulate anything or even pay running expenses, on ac- 
count of the hard times. In 1843 Mr. Brokaw bought two lots, 
where the People's Bank now stands, of James Miller, for 
seventy dollars in cash and fifty-five dollars in work. They were 
each sixty-six feet by one hundred and fifteen. Here Mr. Bro- 
kaw kept his shops for twenty-five years. In 1869 he sold eighty- 
two by ninety-three feet of these lots to the People's Bank Com- 
pany for twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1839 or '40 he bought 
ten acres of fine timber land near Bloomington for ten dollars an 
acre, and after hauling from it a large quantity of lumber sold 
it for fifteen hundred dollars. He bought a one-third interest in 
the shops, where he is now located, of Lewis Bunn, for six thous- 
and dollars. 

On the twentieth of October, 1847, Mr. Brokaw was married 
in Janesville, Wisconsin, to Miss Eunice Ellsworth, the sister of 
his partner, Ellsworth, who died rather more than a year ago. 
She has been his pleasant and loving companion ever since. 

Mr. Brokaw has had very little to do with politics and has 
held only one office of any note. He was trustee of Blooming- 
ton in 1845 and '46 under the old organization of the town. In 
politics he is a Democrat of the strictest kind. He voted for 
Horace Greeley during the last campaign, because Greeley was 
nominated at Baltimore. 



m'lean county. 851 

\li. Brokavv leads a very even life and one day is very much 
like another. He is a man of medium height, well set and 
muscular. lie is very quiet in his manners, is strictly honest in 
his dealings, is rather bald, wears glasses in the evening, works 
as hard as ever, and indeed he could never be content without 
work. Pie is the oldest mechanic in the county, and by his skill, 
industry and patience he has acquired a fortune and has fairly 
earned the wealth he enjoys. 

Andrew W. Scogin. 

One of the earliest and best known settlers of McLean 
County was Andrew W. Scogin. He was born in 1823 in Crosby 
Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, about thirteen miles from 
Cincinnati. Like many of the early settlers he was a farmer's 
boy. His grandfather and his father, Joel Scogin, had been 
farmers, and young Andrew was early taught to follow the plow. 
His paternal grandfather was a Welchman, while his mother's 
father was Irish. The family of which Andrew was a member 
was large, there being fifteen children, eight sons and seven 
daughters ; he was therefore not obliged in his youth to pine in 
solitude like the good little boy of a Sunday school book. He 
received a common school education up to his fourteenth year. 
We are not told whether or not Andrew was attentive to his 
books ; probably he had the alphabet, the primer and the spell- 
ing book cuffed into his head in the usual style, for Mark Twain, 
who is good authority on this subject, intimates that the useful, 
enterprising men are those who have been well threshed in early 
youth. When he was fourteen years of age he came with his 
uncle, Joseph Wakefield, to McLean County, Illinois. Mr. 
Wakefield bought one hundred and eighty acres of land at Ran- 
dolph's Grove, built a log house on it and allowed young Andrew 
to work to his heart's content. Young Andrew, being very 
independent, soon became a farmer on his own account. Part 
of his land he obtained by purchase, and part he obtained by 
his wife, and has in all about six hundred acres. Farming in 
those days was not very profitable business, as the price of wheat 
varied from forty to seventy-five cents per bushel. The only 
markets were Chicago, Peoria and Pekin. Chicago was the 
usual market, and the settlers, while going, clubbed together and 



852 OLD SETTLERS OF 

made a caravan of ten or twenty teams. They did this for com- 
mon protection and in order to help each other through the 
sloughs. The round trip to Chicago and return was usually 
made in about two weeks. During their journey they did not 
enjoy the luxury of a public house on the road, for none was 
kept, and if any had existed it would not have been patronized, 
for the settlers had no money to pay hotel bills. They took their 
pots and frying pans and camped out. At night they made fires 
to keep off the wolves, that sometimes came smelling around 
their camp, and in the day-time the settlers followed the trail, 
careless, happy and free. There were then plenty of deer, and 
the camp was usually supplied with venison steak. There were 
plenty of prairie rattle-snakes too, which were killed by dozens. 
The early settlers were free from a great many things which dis- 
turb more settled and civilized life. The State of Illinois was 
in early days undisturbed by discussion upon temperance laws 
and Sunday liquor laws. People had no beer to drink and 
whisky was a rare article. Mr. Scogin became possessed of the 
title of Captain, which of course confers great honor upon the 
lucky possessor. Shortly after the Mexican war the military 
fever ran high, and it was thought best by some to revive the 
militia. A company was organized in McLean County, and Mr. 
Scogin was chosen captain ; .but the experiment was a failure. 
People do not like to "play soldier." The Captain has an in- 
teresting family of six children, and lives at the west end of 
Blooming Grove, where he has resided since 1847. 

As the old settlers are all pleasant and social in their dispo- 
sition, we should think they might have a reunion, an old settlers' 
meeting. "We are sure Captain Scogin would shine in such an 
assembly, and perhaps he might give the company a speech and 
tell the condition of things forty years ago. We can imagine 
his genial countenance as he would rise and say : 

" Gentleman — For nearly forty years have I sojourned in 
this magnificent prairie State. Forty years ago the deer roamed 
over these western wilds seldom disturbed by the crack of the 
huntsman's rifle, and the mink and the otter reveled at their own 
sweet will amid the primeval frog-ponds. Forty years ago was 
heard the music of the goose and the sandhill crane. Forty 
years ago the coon and the opossum curled their tails in peace 



m'lean county. 353 

and harmony amid these western wilds. Forty years ago the 
bear and the panther reared their hopeful cubs where now the 
seat of justice stands. Forty years ago the musical howl of the 
prairie-wolf arose on the stilly night where now the chords of 
the pianos trill sweeter than the harp of a thousand strings. 
Forty years ago the rattlesnake and the copperhead, the blue- 
racer and the jnassasauger wound their sinuous, tortuous coils 
among the reeds and grass and rushes. Forty eventful years 
have passed since then, and here we stand, my friends, amid the 
crash of bottles and the wreck of breaking glass. I see you, 
gentlemen, before me who have witnessed these changes. I see 
you, my friends, all lit up with Rhine and Sherry wine, and 
though the sun should be darkened and the moon refuse to give 
her light, we should be enlivened by the beverage within." 

Though planet worlds around us whirl 

And solar systems crash, 
We still will punish sherry wine 

And drink the brandy smash! 

The Captain might not feel like expressing all of these senti- 
ments, but if he chose he would probably say something pretty 
good. He has a poetic turn of mind and is particularly fond of 
a piece of poetry which was written by a Yankee who visited 
Illinois, while it was still a territory. The lines were written in 
answer to a letter received from his eastern friends, who wished 
to know about the Western World. As they are pretty good 
we give them here. 

" Great western waste of bottom land, 
Flat as a pancake, rich as grease ; 
Where mosquitoes are as big as toads 
And toads are full as big as geese. 

" Beautiful prairie, rich with grass, 

Where buffaloes and snakes prevail; 
The first with dreadful looking face, 
The last with dreadful sounding tail. 

" I'd rather live on camel's rump 
And be a Yankee Doodle beggar, 



23 



Than where they never see a stump 
And shake to death with fever ager." 



354 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Captain Scogin is a man of medium size, well built and well 
proportioned, of a lively, active and wide-awake nature, with 
eyes always on the alert, noticing everything and everybody 
around him. His countenance shows his pleasant and jovial 
disposition. His conversation is very entertaining, particularly 
when he talks of the old pioneers. His hospitality is unbounded 
and is extended alike to the poor and the rich. These pleasant 
and engaging qualities have made him the most popular man in 
the section of country where he resides. 

Captain Scogin was married December 26, 1844, to Elizabeth 
Karr, daughter of Dr. Thomas Karr of Randolph's Grove. She 
died October 13, 1845, leaving no children. He married, Jan- 
uary 19, 1847, Eliza Low, daughter of Nathan Low. She died 
November 15, 1863. The children of this marriage are : 

Lee Scogin, who was born April 22, 1849, is married and 
lives on the old Nathan Low place. 

Jay Scogin was born April 29, 1851, is unmarried. 

John Scogin was born June 22, 1853, is married and lives 
in Bloomington. 

The following children live at home : 

Frank, born December 20, 1855. 

Hester, born April 9, 1858. 

Joseph W., born August 14, 1860. 

William Scogin, who w T as born July 13, 1863, is dead. 

Doctor C. Wakefield. 

Dr. Cyrenius Wakefield was born July 12, 1815, at Water- 
town, New York. He is a direct descendant from Thomas 
Wakefield, who emigrated from the town of Wakefield in York- 
shire, England, to Reading, Massachusetts, about the year 1680. 
Wakefield is the same town which gave the name to Goldsmith's 
beautiful story, "The Vicar of Wakefield." Joseph Wakefield, 
the father of Cyrenius, was one of the first party of emigrants 
to Jefferson County, New York, in the year 1800, when that 
part of the country was a densely timbered wilderness. He 
came there from Vermont with his employer to cut away the 
timber and open up a farm. He became so expert in chopping 
that he cut regularly an acre a week of the heavy hard-wood 
timber, and made it ready for logging. He thus cleared several 



m'lean county. 355 

hundred acres. A few years after emigrating to New York he 
married Susan Sawyer, daughter of Deacon Thomas Sawyer, 
who emigrated from New Hampshire the year previous. They 
were afterwards blessed with a family of six children, one girl 
and five boys ; of these, three were older than Cyrenius. 

After Cyrenius had served out his minority faithfully and had 
earned a little money by teaching school, he started for the West 
to try his fortune in a new country. 

In May, 1837, he came over the lakes to Chicago, thence by 
stage to LaSalle, and from there by boat to Pekin. As there 
was no stage to Bloomington he had his trunk placed on an ox 
team load of goods going to that place, and worked his passage 
by footing it. 

He lived in the vicinity of Bloomington for two years and 
taught school in the Orendorff district fifteen months of the 
time. From this time until June, 1843, he taught school and 
worked his farm in DeWitt County. He built a house on his 
farm, and 

"One early day iu leafy June, 
When birds and bees were all in tune" 

he went to Watertown, New York, and married Miss Harriet 
Richardson, an old schoolmate. With her he again came over 
the lakes to Chicago. Here he had left a horse, and having 
brought with him a buggy and harness, he hitched up, and the 
happy young couple completed their bridal tour with a four days 
ride over the prairie. Probably Dr. Wakefield has never before 
or since been happier than during this period of his life. 

A short time before his marriage his father died, leaving him 
a few hundred dollars, which greatly aided him in opening out 
a large farm and furnishing it with young stock. His plan then 
was to have a large stock farm, but other events changed his 
course. 

In 1845 an elder brother, Dr. T. Wakefield, came to visit 
him from southwestern Arkansas. Dr. T. Wakefield had prac- 
ticed medicine there for ten years, but was so well pleased with 
Illinois and the people here that he determined to settle up his 
business in Arkansas and make his home in Illinois. This he 
did, and by July, 1846, he was ready for business in Illinois. 
The two brothers now entered into partnership in a farmers' 



356 OLD SETTLERS OF 

store. They opened up a stock of goods and conducted their 
business quite successfully. But circumstances changed their 
plans entirely. Dr. T. Wakefield had gained great skill in the 
South in treating malignant congestive fevers, and he began here 
the same treatment which he found so successful. His first sea- 
son was a famous one for fever and chills, and with his medi- 
cines and cold water applications he succeeded in breaking up 
the worst attacks in a few hours. His fame spread with amaz- 
ing rapidity, and to satisfy the pressing demand for his services, 
he kept a change of horses and a driver, and improved his time 
to the best advantage. His practice soon extended over a por- 
tion of country of fifty miles radius, and he was obliged to do 
much of his sleeping while riding from one distant patient to 
another. When the people could not get him they wanted his 
medicine, and the brothers Wakefield were induced to prepare 
them in advance of orders. The demand continued to increase 
and they were obliged to change their store into a medicine fac- 
tory. Their medicines were introduced into several counties ; 
when Dr. T. Wakefield, after much exposure, took a violent 
congestion of the lungs and died within thirty-six hours. This 
left Dr. C. Wakefield in a very embarrassing position, but, hav- 
ing had two years experience with his brother, and having done 
all of the work of manufacturing the medicines, he wisely con- 
cluded to go on and extend the business. He bought his brother's 
interest from his young widow (as they had married but 
two months previous to his death) and prepared to push the 
business extensively. He sold his property in DeWitt County 
and in February, 1850, removed to Bloomington, as this was a 
good central point. He has ever since driven his business with 
wonderful energy, and now his remedies are sold in nearly every 
town in five entire states. The doctor has made quite a fortune 
by the sale of his remedies, but aside from any pecuniary con- 
sideration he is glad to know that he is doing a useful work. 
When he came to Bloomington he built a factory, and in con- 
nection with it a drug store, which he carried on with Robert 
Thompson. They built the first three story brick builing in 
town, But this and another brick building adjoining, which 
was erected by the Doctor during the following year, were 
burned to the ground in the great fire of October 16, 1855. In 



m'lean county. 357 

this fire the losses of Wakefield & Thompson were very heavy 
as their insurance was light. But they rebuilt their drug store 
and the doctor rebuilt his factory near his residence, on its pres- 
ent location. Since then he has made additions to it as his 
business required. 

In February, 1854, his fine residence was burned, but these 
losses and disappointments only caused him to double his exer- 
tions. In 1857 he sold out his drug interest, and gave his whole 
time and attention to his medicine business, and now he reaps 
the reward of foresight, of care and hard labor. He gives em- 
ployment to forty persons in his medicine business (one-half of 
whom are females) and his annual sales amount to $100,000. 
He converts twenty-five tons of paper into almanacs every year 
for free distribution, for the purpose of advertising his reme- 
dies. His largest sales are made where fevers are most danger- 
ous and most common, particularly in new countries where he 
is glad to know that his remedies are the means of doing great 
good. It seems now well recognized among advertisers that ad- 
vertising is of only temporary benefit unless the .article pre- 
sented to the public has intrinsic merit. The Doctor has made 
himself quite independent by the judicious advertising of good 
and reliable remedies. 

The Doctor has four children to rejoice with him in his pros- 
perity; two of these are married and enjoying comfortable 
homes. He has contributed a great deal to the growth and 
prosperity of Bloomington, and takes pride in the fact that his 
efforts in that direction have been successful. He is a man of 
sterling integrity and substantial credit. He performs well and 
carefully whatever belongs to him to do. He is a member of 
the Board of Education in Bloomington, and active in the 
discharge of his duties. Although he is a Republican, he is 
not ultra in politics, and has never accepted an office of profit. 
He is conscientious, and believes it to be the duty of every one 
to work out practicall} 7 his own spiritual elevation. 

The Doctor is a lover of the beautiful as well as the useful. 
His present residence is a very fine illustration of his ability to 
combine good taste with great convenience and usefulness. It 
was built in 1871, at a cost of about thirty thousand dollars. 

The Doctor relates a funny incident in the early history of 
Bloomington. He says that the first year he lived in the place, 



358 OLD SETTLERS OF 

1837, the county had a a hewed log or block house jail standing 
near the site of the present fruit house grocery. It had no win- 
dow in it, but on the north side was a peek-hole five or six feet 
from the ground, large enough for a man to look through, but 
supposed to be too small for any one to make an egress. This 
was the only jail in the county, and owing to the good morals 
of the citizens it was seldom occupied. But there was in Bloom- 
ington a notorious character known as Len Marrow, who was 
much addicted to drinking, and when he was under the influ- 
ence of spirits he was very noisy. He was often put in this old 
jail to sober ofT. While in there he would stand at the peek- 
hole and halloo and give a long exhortation to every one who 
came in sight and tease them for a treat. Finally William Mc- 
Cullough agreed to treat him if he would get out of the jail. 
In less than half an hour he had squeezed himself through the 
peek-hole and was hunting for McCul lough to get the treat ! 

Dr. Wakefield is about five feet and nine inches in height, 
is well proportioned, and has a wiry, good constitution. His 
features are regular, and his eyes are small but sharp and pene- 
trating. His hair and beard are dark and full, but now are 
turning gray. His whole appearance is that of a careful, calcu- 
lating, straightforward, energetic business man. 

William Osborne Viney. 

William Osborne Viney was born May 15, 1806, in Fleming 
County, Kentucky. His father's name was John Viney and the 
name of his mother, before her marriage, was Elizabeth Martin. 
His mother was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, and his 
father in Greenbrier County, same State. His father was of 
mixed Welch and German descent, and his mother was of 
English. 

John Viney came to Kentucky from Virginia in 1803 or '04, 
and in about the year 1810 he moved to Champaign County, 
Ohio, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1813. 
William O. Viney went to school in Ohio, but it grieves the author 
to learn that young William was up to his pranks. He assisted 
the boys once on Christmas day in barring out a school teacher, 
named LafFerty ; but Lafferty came through the roof and made 
the children scamper. Er. Viney also helped to bar out a man 
named McLean, and tied him and made him give a holiday. 



m'lean county. 359 

In those early days the Indians were plenty. Mr. Viney has 
often seen Tecumseh, and although the former was^very 'young, 
he remembers Tecumseh clearly. Mr. Viney remembers seeing 
Simon Kenton, the great Indian fighter of Kentucky. The latter 
wore a hunting shirt, and sometimes one of leather. He was 
about six feet in height, and his features showed resolution and 
determination. 

Mr. Viney was not celebrated as a sportsman, but he fre- 
quently hunted coons and foxes with hounds and hadsonie very 
exciting chases. At one time he went on a fox hunt with hounds, 
but one of the dogs was crippled and could not run fast. The 
fox ran in a circle and the crippled dog, being unable to run fast, 
cut across and caught it. 

Mr. Viney loved his practical jokes and was up to a great 
many of them. He had a friend, named Phillips, who was large 
and awkward, and a fine "subject" to work upon. Phillips was 
a bashful youth and much afraid of the girls. At one time, in 
the dusk of the evening, while the two young men were'passiug 
a place where some girls were milking, Viney gave Phillips a 
push and sent him over on a steer that was lying down. Phillips 
thought it was a log and awkwardly fell astride of it with his 
face towards the tail. The "log" jumped up and began running 
and kicking, and poor Phillips was lifted into the air so that 
blue sky could be seen between him and the steer at every jump. 
He finally took a seat on the "ground, and from the expressions 
used would not have been considered a pious young man. 

At the age of twenty Mr. Viney set out with his friend 
Phillips on foot for Indianapolis. There Viney worked in a 
brickyard during the summer and in a shoeshop during winter. 

At the age of twenty-one he was married to Miss Dorinda 
Bay, the daughter of Squire William Bay, of Indianapolis. 
Squire Bay had come from Champaign County, Ohio. He had 
served in the war of 1812 as a spy. At one time during the 
war of 1812 Squire Bay was sent out with a squad of men under 
the command of a certain Captain Wood to watch the move- 
ments of the British and Indians near the Maumee River. 
During one night they saw what they thought was a body of 
Indians, but it proved to be a drove of cattle. They were ob- 
liged to travel during the night and remain hidden during the 



360 OLD SETTLERS OF 

day, but were passed by Indians who came uncomfortably close 
to them. While they remained hid a snow fell about two inches 
deep, so that they could be tracked. Then they knew that they 
must return to the army with all speed, which they did, a dis- 
tance of thirty-five miles. The Indians, who were following up 
the spies, came up about the time the latter reached the army. 
Bay said, that on one of his expeditions he became very sick, 
so sick that he was crazy, and was left to die, but was found and 
brought into camp on a sled. 

Mr. A 7 iney remained at Indianapolis nine years. Game was 
plenty there. He remembers seeing forty wild turkeys on a four 
acre block. He says that when turkeys are chased a long dis- 
tance, they hide their heads as ostriches are said to do in the 
desert. 

In March, 1837, he made a visit to McIIenry County with 
his brother-in-law, Simpson Ba}-, and in August following he 
came to McLean County to make it his home. Deer were then 
exceedingly plenty. ,At one time, while marking out a claim 
with his brother-in-law, Simpson Bay, they started a drove of 
thirty deer, which ran past Bay and he fired at the herd, not at 
any particular deer, and succeeded in killing one. 

Mr. Viney came to Bloomington, where he lived one year, 
then went to Monmouth, in Warren County, where he lived five 
years, then he returned to Bloomington, where he lived until 
about five years ago, when he moved to the place where he 
now resides, on the east side of Blooming Grove. 

Mr. Viney tells of a change in the weather which took place 
in 1840 or 1842, which reminded him of the celebrated sudden 
change of December, 1836. One morning, when the snow was 
on the ground and the weather was cloudy and warm for winter, 
he went to mill six miles north of Monmouth. He stayed at the 
mill over night, and in the morning he found that it had rained 
and the snow was gone. He started home with the flour and 
bran of six bushels of wheat. When he arrived at Monmouth 
it snowed and turned very cold. There he caught sight of one 
of his neighbors about a quarter of a mile distant, starting for 
home, and tried to catch up with him. Viney kept within about 
a quarter of a mile of his neighbor, all the time they were going 
home, but could not gain on him. When the neighbor crossed 



m'lean county. 361 

the first creek and went through with his horse, he left a mark 
which Viney could watch, and Viney says that by the time he 
could travel a quarter of a mile and reach the place, the ice 
would almost bear his weight. The cold was most intense, and 
though he was wrapped .up in bed-clothes and had the wind to 
his back, it sometimes seemed that he must freeze. 

Mr. Viney's amiable wife died October 21, 1871, at the age of 
sixty-three. He has had a family of twelve children, of whom 
six are living. All the living are in Illinois, except one who 
went to California. They are : 

William M. Viney, who lives in California. 

David Viney lives a mile and a half north of his father's. 

Mrs. Lucinda M. Cox, wife of Rev. Amos Cox, lives in Vir- 
ginia, Cass Count}', Illinois. 

Mrs. Martha J. Clary, wife of James Clary, lives with her 
father, or rather her father lives with her. 

Alvin L. Viney lives in Bloomington. 

Edwin Ray Viney lives at his father's house, and makes his 
home there. 

Mr. Viney is about five feet and ten inches in height, weighs 
a hundred and thirty or forty pounds, is muscular and never was 
afraid of work. He made great exertions to support his family, 
in the days when it seemed hard to do so. He is full of fun, 
loves a joke, particular^ a practical joke. His head is bald, 
and his eyes have a pleasant, practical-joking smile. He is a 
man of the best of sense, and what his hands find to do he does 
with his might, industriously and perseveringly. He is a good 
sharp judge of character and sees through men easily. 

John T. Gunnell. 

John T. Gunnell was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, ten 
miles from Washington, on the first of May, 1796. His father, 
Allen Gunnell, was descended from Welch and English stock 
and was quite wealthy. He was blind from his birth, but his 
blindness was not noticed until he attempted to walk. He had 
a plantation and about fort}^ slaves. Some of these he liberated 
and would have done so with all, but was prevented by the pass- 
age of a law by Virginia prohibiting the liberation of slaves. 
This kind gentleman died in 1822 at the ripe age of seventy-two. 



362 OLD SETTLERS OF 

His death was occasioned by eating too many cherries, of which 
fruit he was very fond. John received his early education at a 
district school, and later, at the age of eighteen, he finished at 
Alexandria, which was about ten miles from his father's home. 
He was not specially educated for auy profession or trade, but 
was trained to attend to his father's affairs. His father was so 
strongly opposed to slavery that in the year 1814 he sold out and 
removed to Nashville, Tennessee. After remaining there two 
years his father moved to Christian County, Kentucky, where he 
bought one thousand acres of land and commenced raising pro- 
duce, particularly tobacco. In May, 1820, John T. Gunnell 
married Elizabeth Major, a double cousin of William T. Major? 
of whose life we have made a sketch. She was an only daugh- 
ter and was usually called Queen. This was near Frankfort, 
Kentucky. By this marriage he had one son, Thomas Allen 
Gunnell. Two years after the marriage of John T. Gunnell, his 
wife died, and his son Thomas was brought up by his grand- 
mother near Frankfort, and now lives in Saline County, Missouri. 
Thomas was for some time a slaveholder, as he obtained a great 
many by marriage, and was obliged to take care of them, and 
when they were liberated by the war of the rebellion he was 
glad to be relieved of the responsibilities of their charge. Mr. 
John T. Gunnell was for a while clerk of the Circuit Court and 
held his office at Hopkinsville, while his mother and sisters re- 
mained to oversee the farm ; but when his sisters went the 
way of the world and were married, his mother came to town 
and kept house for him. On the first of November, 1827, he 
married Catharine Athelia McKenzie, near Hopkinsville, and 
moved to his farm. They have had a family of nine children, 
seven of whom are living, four boys and three girls. 

In 1833 Mr. Gunnell sold out with the intention of moving 
to Texas ; but this country was then under the government of 
Mexico, which had passed a law requiring all marriages to be 
performed after the ritual of the Catholic Church, or they would 
not be recognized as legal and binding. But Mr. Gunnell was 
a Protestant, and as this little matter could not be arranged satis- 
factorily the plan of going to Texas was given up, and the family 
came to Tazewell County, Illinois, in the year 1834. During 
the fall previous to his removal he entered a quarter section of 



m'lean county. 363 

land in Tazewell County, Illinois, had a house built on it and 
made arrangements to have ten acres planted in corn. His 
goods were sent by water and the family started in carriages 
with two other families. The party consisted of Mr. Gunnell, 
his wife and three children ; William Davenport, his wife and 
two children, and Mordecai Bullock, his wife and two children. 
The party was two weeks on the road, but at last arrived safely 
on the twenty-fifth of April, 1834. No accidents or adventures 
occurred on the journe}^ except that at one time Mr. Bullock 
came very near being drowned. Davenport arid Bullock settled 
in Walnut Grove, now called Eureka, Woodford County. Mr. 
Davenport was intended for the profession of the law, but he 
became a preacher and was the principal mover in building up 
Eureka College. 

After living in Tazewell County for three years (until 1837) 
Mr. Gunnell sold his land there for ten dollars an acre and 
moved to Stout's Grove, now called Danvers Township, where 
he bought two hundred acres of land at seven dollars an acre. 
Here he lived for thirty years until the day of his death, which 
occurred April 28, 1867, after two weeks severe illness. The 
farm still belongs to the family and is managed by the eldest 
son. 

Mr. Gunnell was not an active politician and held but one 
office of profit, which was that of circuit clerk in Hopkinsville, 
Kentucky. For twenty-one years preceding his death he was 
treasurer of Danvers township, which shows very clearly the 
confidence reposed in him by his neighbors. In politics he was 
a Whig and afterwards a Republican. He was a member of the 
Christian Church and for many years was a deacon in that or- 
ganization. 

Mr. Gunnell was commanding in stature, being nearly six 
feet in height. His hair was dark and curly, his whiskers had a 
reddish cast, but late in life were gray. His forehead was high 
and full, and the expression of his countenance was intellectual. 
His eyes were large, the color of hazel, and had an intelligent, 
penetrating expression, and when pleased had a very kind, pleas- 
ant look. He was an excellent business man and very careful 
with all of his accounts. He thought a great deal of his family 
and was always anxious for their welfare. He was buried at 
Stout's Grove. 



364 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The following are Mr. Gunnell's children born during his 
marriage with his wife Catherine : 

John T. Gunnell, jr., lives at home; Dr. James Lincoln Gun- 
nell lives in Mackinawtown ; Mrs. Lizzie Yaughan, wife of Mr. 
Vaughan, General Manager of the Chicago & Alton Railroad; 
Joseph Manson Gunnell is a farmer, and lives at Minier on the 
Little Mackinaw ; Washington McKenzie, Margaret Ann and 
Mary Belle, live at home. The latter is the pet, of course, keeps 
the house lively and makes the mischief. 

John Willard Billings. 

John W. Billings was born August 25, 1810, in Charlton, 
Worcester County, Massachusetts. His father's name was Wil- 
liam Billings and his mother's name before her marriage was 
Lucretia Parker. The Billings family is an old one, and its 
origin is given by Mr. Billings, as follows : " I have learned 
from the history of the Plymouth colony that the name of Bill- 
ings in America is derived from two brothers who came over 
from England, not in the Mayflower, but a few years after the 
voyage of this celebrated vessel. One of the brothers settled in 
the New England colony and the other in the colony at James- 
town, Virginia. I am a descendant of the Plymouth stock and 
am branded a full-blooded Yankee, dyed in the wool, which I 
never wish to deny." On the other hand, those members of the 
Billings family who were descended from the brother who set- 
tled in Virginia, no doubt prided themselves on being good 
southerners and good rebels during the war. Their names ap- 
peared very often in that connection, but their northern name- 
sakes probably sent enough soldiers to the Union army to attend 
to them. 

William Billings, the father of John, was a shoe manufac- 
turer. He manufactured shoes from what were called Calcutta 
hides, though they probably came from cattle in Spanish South 
America. These shoes were sold principally in the Southern 
States to be worn by negroes. He took a great interest in his 
trade. When one of his sons, Parker Billings, died, the old 
gentleman said sadly : " I intended to make a fine workman of 
Parker." William Billings died in the year 1817 when John 
was only seven years of age. The family, owing to some mis- 



m'lean county. 365 

fortunes, was left in rather straightened circumstances. There 
were five children in the family and the death of the father scat- 
tered them. John was sent from one relative to another for a while, 
but at last was taken by Major D. Williams, an old soldier of 
the Revolution, and by him raised until the age of twenty-one. 
Major Williams was in many battles. He was at Saratoga and 
in all of the contests of that memorable campaign, which ended 
in the surrender of General Burgoyne. Mr. Billings says of the 
Major : " Many a time did he thrill my boyish heart with the 
account of that campaign, how the bullets whizzed, the artillery 
thundered and the red-coats ran ! He was present when Gene- 
ral Burgoyne surrendered his sword to General Gates, saying, 
with a low bow, ' The fortunes of war, General Gates, have 
made me your prisoner.' The victorious General returned the 
sword with a courtly salute, saying, ' I shall always be ready to 
bear testimony that it was not through any fault of your Excel- 
lency.' When the old gentleman would tell of this circumstance, 
he would spring to his feet and march across the floor with his 
military tread, and his cheeks all aglow with the thought that 
Burgoyne had surrendered ! He was a good old man ; his latch- 
string was out ; his house and barn were open to man and beast, 
and his purse-strings were loose, when benevolence or charity 
required. Mrs. Williams, his wife, was a patriotic and Chris- 
tian lady and not a whit behind her husband in everything good 
and merciful. I am indebted to him for many moral lessons and 
to her for many prayers. If there is any good in me, they, under 
the Most High, are the bestowers of it. The master has long 
since said unto them : ' Come up higher.' " 

Mr. Billings, in his younger days, heard a great deal of the 
West; he heard from a nephew of Major Williams that the 
West was a place where fifty acres of wheat could grow in one 
patch ! and when young John grew up, this had a great influ- 
ence in deciding him to go West. He went to school in the 
meantime and had good books to read, black birds to shoot and 
fish to catch. What more could a young man wish ? 

At the age of twenty-one Mr.|Billings was indentured to an 
architect and builder, as an apprentice for three years. He 
served his time faithfully, and then began work on his own 
account. He worked one year for William Howe, the inventor 



366 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of the Howe Truss Bridge, one of which spans the Illinois River 
at Peoria. He is a brother of the Howe who invented the sew- 
ing machine of that name. The whole family of Howes were 
remarkable for their mechanical genius. 

In 1837 Mr. Billings decided to try his fortune in the West, 
as the times were very hard. His friends attempted to dissuade 
him from his course, but without avail. He says : "I took 
counsel only of myself; my faith was fixed ; my face was set, 
and my loins were girded for a race toward sundown." He and 
a fellow-shopmate started August 20, 1837, from Norwich, 
Connecticut, on the banks of the Thames River, on board of 
the boat Aurora, for the great West. He says : "The reader will 
not imagine a faint heart, when I say that my visage lengthened 
and my eyes misted over as the Aurora bore me away from my 
native soil, bound for Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois." 

He went to New York and there took passage up the Hudson 
River. He was shown the places on this great river which 
have become famous in history. He saw the national school 
at West Point ; he saw the place, where the great chain 
was stretched across the river during the Revolutionary War ; 
he saw where the sloop Vulture, of Arnold and Andre notoriety, 
was moored, while the traitor was negotiating his treason, and 
upon which he finally fled. At Albany he went on board of a 
canal-boat for Buffalo. Not a great while before they reached 
the latter place, a stranger, who came on board, had an altercation 
with the captain, who was a short, fat man and wore a ruffled 
shirt. The captain intimated, that the stranger was a fool, and 
the latter responded, that the captain was a "hog, wearing a 
ruffled shirt." The result was a tussle, in which the ruffles be- 
came ruffled still more and somewhat bloodied from the injured 
nose above, while the stranger found himself crawling out of the 
canal. 

When he arrived at Buffalo, the houses for entertainment 
were all full, but he managed to get quarters next to a good old 
couple, who belonged to the Society of Friends. At Buffalo he 
took a boat for Chicago. On board of the boat was a widow 
and her children. They were Catholics, and every morning 
they knelt in a group, with their crosses about their necks and 
their beads in their hands, and remained motionless for half an 



m'lean county. 367 

hour or more. At Mackinaw Straits he saw many Indians. He 
says : ''Their wigwams circled around the water's edge for a 
mile or two. The lake was in a measure covered with bark 
canoes, the Indians showing much skill in their management. 
Some were fishing, others lazily loitering upon the smooth 
waters, entirely listless and careless of their appearance." Some 
were anxious to trade. The squaws offered bright pebbles, curi- 
ous shells and bead-work of many fanciful patterns, and the men 
offered fish, venison and the furs of small animals. "When the 
boat was about to start, the captain gave warning, but one canoe, 
containing an Indian, a squaw and two papooses, was late in 
leaving, and when the wheel revolved, this canoe was turned 
keel up. Mr. Billings says the little papooses floated as natur- 
ally as balls of cotton or life-preservers. While between 
Mackinaw Straits and Chicago, they saw a deer swimming in the 
water and took it on board and brought it to Chicago. It was 
a fine five-pronged buck. Mr. Billings says, this was the only 
steamboat deer-hunt he ever heard of. 

At Chicago, Mr. Billings and his companion made arrange- 
ments to have their baggage taken to Tremont, in Tazewell 
County, by a "brawny, long-legged, long-armed six-footer, who 
had come to Chicago with four yoke of oxen and a load of 
bacon." This was their only opportunity, as they could find no 
teams going to Bloomington. They then set out for the latter 
place on foot, and for the first time saw the broad prairie. Mr. 
Billings says: "Never had we seen such an ocean-land; for the 
first time I realized the idea of a fifty-acre wheat field ! The 
wonders of the Great West were unfolding before us. I had 
seen the mountains of New England, but their sublime heights 
were eclipsed by the broad expanse of level land now before 
us." They diverged from their course to look at some lands on 
the Kankakee River, and there saw hunters killing chickens 
with double-barreled shot guns. It was a novelty indeed. They 
proceeded on to Bloomington through the prairie grass, which 
grew from one to three feet high. At one time they thought 
they saw their fifty-acre cornfield in the distance, but found it 
to be grass growing seven or eight feet high on wet land. It was 
a miniature cane-brake. They came on to Eppard's Point on 
Rook Creek (Little Vermilion), and here Mr. Billings bought a 



368 OLD SETTLERS OF 

claim for one hundred dollars, giving the occupant a year to 
remain. He proceeded to Bloomington after a few days delay. 
Here he saw the militia out and training. General Covel and 
Colonel Gridley, afterwards General, were in high feathers. 

Mr. Billings speaks of Bloomington curiously and beauti- 
fully, and gives some reminiscences of the prominent men of 
the place. "James Allin, merchant, was one of the main pro- 
prietors of the town, and State Senator from this district. I 
heard him speak of one of his trips to Vandalia, when that city 
was the capital of the State. He and some others went part of 
the way there and found the roads so nearly impassable that 
horse teams could not travel, and they were compelled to take 
an ox-team, and he whom the nation now honors and mourns 
more than any other man, our martyred President, Abraham 
Lincoln, with his long legs and longer ox-whip, drove them tri- 
umphantly into the State capital." The Circuit Court was in 
session in Bloomington when Mr. Billings arrived, but closed 
about a week afterwards, and the judge and lawyers prepared to 
go to Tremont, Tazewell County, to the session of court there. 
Among them was His Honor, Judge David Davis, who rode a 
spirited horse ; but as he wished to ride in a carriage with some 
of his legal friends, and as Mr. Billings wished to go to Tremont 
for his goods, the latter rode the Judge's horse. Mr. Billings 
was not accustomed to horseback riding, though he did pretty 
well with the fiery Bucephalus. After riding eight or ten miles 
the company stopped for water and when they started on, Mr. 
Billings fell behind. When he attempted to re-mount he became 
rather eager and pitched clear over the horse, and in so doing 
lost his hold of the rein. The animal bounded away and left 
poor Billings meditating upon the expression of Solomon : 
"Verily, a horse is a vain thing for safety." He went forward 
and explained matters to Judge Davis, feeling much confused 
and anxious about the animal. It was afterwards found at Funk's 
Grove, where it had been bred. As Mr. Billings' baggage had 
not arrived at Tremont when he came there, and as the landlady 
of the tavern was sick, he assisted in the culinary department, 
and for a week was chief cook and dishwasher for twenty or 
thirty lawyers and clients. Mr. Billings' baggage had by this 
time arrived, and he took it to Bloomington. 



m'lean county. 361 j 

In the fall of 1839 Mr. Billings was taken sick with the bil- 
lious fever, which was a disease very common in the West. He 
was nursed for several weeks by Mr. and Mrs. William Wallace, 
and wishes his obligations for their kindness to be expressed in 
this sketch. 

Mr. Billings is about tive feet and six inches in height. His 
eyes are, one of them gray and the other a light brown. His 
head is rather bald, owing to sickness in his youth. His nose 
is aquiline and his features delicate. His age begins to appear, 
as his hair is turning gray ; he uses spectacles to read and write* 
and he has been somewhat deaf during the last fifteen years. 
His countenance is expressive of kindness of heart, and his ap- 
pearance is quiet and unassuming. He is a great worker and in- 
constantly on the move, but has retired from business. He pos- 
sesses great mechanical skill. He is much interested in science 
and art and is well informed with regard to matters that are 
transpiring. From the quotations made in this sketch it has no 
doubt appeared to the reader that Mr. Billings has many of the 
qualifications of an interesting writer. It seems natural for him 
to bring out his ideas clearly by contrasts, and he is helped by a 
sense of humor and a lively imagination. 

Mr. Billings married, March 26, 1840, Miss Rebecca- Ann 
Hatfield, who came from Hopkinsville, Christian County, Ken- 
tucky, in October, 1836, with the family of her stepfather, James 
C. Haden. They have one daughter, Eliza L. Billings, who 
lives with her parents. Mrs. Haden, the mother of Mrs. Bill- 
ings, resides with her daughter. 

Henry Richardson. 

Henry Richardson was born October 26, 1807, in Sudbury, 
Massachusetts. He was of purely English descent. When he 
was ten years of age his father died. Henry Richardson was 
then thrown in a great measure on his own resources, and he 
went into a factory for making cloth, in the city of Lowell. He 
worked in it for eleven years, going through all of the depart- 
ments and becoming at last superintendent. In 1835 he went to 
Lexington, Kentucky, to take charge of a factory, which had 
been superintended by his brother. But he could not endure 
24 



370 OLD SETTLERS OF 

the system of slavery, and in September, 1837, he left Ken- 
tucky and came to McLean County, Illinois. Here he entered 
one hundred and sixty acres of land, which included the little 
grove about half a mile west of Old Town timber. He was 
active and industrious. He hauled goods from St. Louis, Peoria 
and Pekin for Judge McClun and others. He camped out at 
night making fires to keep off the wolves. 

He sold his entered land for seven dollars per acre, and in 
the spring of 1845 bought the Michael place near the south end 
of Blooming Grove. Here he lived until the spring of 1851. 
He raised stock, and during the celebrated " hard times" of 
1837-46 he sold it cheap. But it cost him little, as he could buy 
corn for five cents per bushel to feed to it. In the spring of 
1851 he sold the Michael place for fifteen dollars per acre. Then 
he took his family to visit his grandfather Fisher's people in 
Francestown, New Hampshire. This was indeed a visit, for it 
lasted nearly a year. He returned to Bloomington and went 
into the grocery business, in which he remained until the time 
of his death, which occurred December 17, 1872. Mr. Richard- 
son was for many years superintendent of a Sunday school and 
deacon in the Congregational Church. During the latter part 
of his life he was an elder in the Second Presbyterian Church. 
During all of his life he was a zealous, working Christian and 
died in full faith in his Saviour. 

In September, 1827, at the age of twenty, Mr. Richardson 
married Miss Lucy Fisher. By this marriage he had six chil- 
dren, of whom four are living. 

Henry W. Richardson died in 1853. 

Justin W. Richardson lives at Millington, Kendall County, 
Illinois. He was for a while editor of the Bloomington Panta- 
graph, afterwards of the Quincy Whig and Republican, and now 
owns and edits the Millington Enterprise. 

Lunsford P. Richardson was a soldier during the rebellion in 
the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers, Company A. He is now 
connected with the house of Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co., Chi- 
cago. 

John C. Richardson died in 1857. 

AVilliam F. Richardson was, during the rebellion, a soldier 
in the Mercantile Battery from Chicago. He is now in the 
grocery business on Main street, Bloomington. 



m'lean county. 371 

George IT. Richardson was in the One Hundred and Forty- 
fifth Illinois Volunteers. He is now with his brother William in 
the grocery business. 

Mrs. Richardson died March 30, 1859. In December, 1864, 
Mr. Richardson married Miss Caroline Robinson. No children 
were born of this marriage. This lady is still living. 

Henry Richardson was about five feet and eight inches in 
height, had rather a light complexion and was rather bald-head- 
ed. His son Lunsford very much resembles him. He was a 
very good man and very kind to his family. He was very quiet 
in his disposition and his health was usually good. He died of 
heart-disease and was sick only a few minutes. 

Joshua R. Fell. 

Joshua R. Fell, eldest son of Jesse and Rebecca R. Fell, was 
born January 21, 1804, in East Cain township, Chester County, 
Pennsylvania. The Fell family lived in various places in that 
vicinity. About the first of January, 1821, Mr. Fell was ap- 
prenticed to learn the blacksmith's trade in Downingtown, Ches- 
ter County, Pa., where the family then lived. While Mr. Fell 
lived in Downingtown, the first survey was made for the Pennsyl- 
vania Centrail Railroad, running from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. 
But it was not until the year 1834 that locomotives commenced 
running, some ten years after its actual construction was com- 
menced. It does not now require so much time to build a rail- 
road. Joshua Fell lived in many places in Pennsylvania. In 
the year 1831 he moved to Salisbury in Pequay Valley, where 
he engaged in business on his own account. During this year 
he married Sarah Harlin, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth 
Harlin. The ceremony was performed after the manner of the 
Friends, in Old Kennett Meeting House, on the 16th of June, 
1831. Joshua Fell lived in Pequay Valley about six years after 
his marriage. 

In the middle of May, 1837, they commenced their move to 
Bloomington, Illinois. Their journey lasted forty days and was 
remarkable for a freak of the weather never heard of before nor 
since. On the twenty-third of June they arrived at Hickory 
Grove, between Paris and Urbana, Illinois. During that night 
a rain began to fall, but it was afterwards changed to snow. The 



372 OLD SETTLERS OF 

snow storm was so heavy that it bent down bushes and trees, for 
the snow lodged in the foliage which was full and perfect, as 
would be expected in the month of June. Mr. Fell says : 
" As this was my first experience with the State of Illinois, the 
prospect was by no means encouraging ; but having lived for 
thirty-six years in Bloomington and never having experienced 
such peculiar phenomena since, I have become reconciled to the 
climate of the West." 

On Christmas day, 1837, Mr. Fell had the misfortune to lose 
the sight of his left eye. He was killing pigs for his winter 
supply of meat, and during a scuffle with a lively pig, which had 
some objections to being turned into pork, Mr. Fell was drawn 
against the end of a fence rail, which was pressed against his 
eye. He was confined in a dark room until the following April, 
and the sight of his left eye was destroyed. 

Mr. Fell has, since 1837, lived a quiet life in Bloomington ; 
has been one of the most honest and fair-minded of American 
citizens. He has one fault, which the author takes liberty to 
criticise. It is one which is far from common — it is his exceed- 
ing modesty. He always underrates himself and his influence, 
and seems always anxious that others shall receive the credit of 
that which impartial observers would award to him. This old 
gentleman is as worthy and fair-minded as he is modest. He 
has the spirit of the Society of Friends, of which his father was 
a member, and his feeling towards others is that of peace and 
good will. 

Mr. Fell had three children born to him in Pennsylvania. 
They are Charles E., Mary E., and Thomas H. Fell. He had 
three children born in Illinois : Lucretia M., Sarah Ellen and 
Rebecca. Three of his children are dead. They are Thomas 
H., Lucretia M., and Rebecca. 

Mr. Fell is about five feet and ten inches in height. His 
features are somewhat prominent, but while looking at him one 
does not think of his features, but rather of the man's simplicity 
and worth, of his modesty and kindness of heart. He thinks a 
great deal of his brothers, Thomas, Kersey and Jesse, and seems 
more anxious for them than for himself. 



m'lean county. 373 

Jonathan Glimpse. 

Jonathan Glimpse was born August 4, 1811, in Preble Coun- 
ty, Ohio, on a farm, nine miles from Eaton, the county seat. His 
father's name was Emmanuel Glimpse, and his mother's, before 
her marriage, was Lydia Sulgrave. Both were of English and 
German descent. His father was a farmer, and Jonathan was 
also brought up as a tiller of the soil. Jonathan belonged to a 
family of nine children, having five brothers and three sisters. 
Of these, seven are still living. Jonathan received only a limited 
education, the opportunities for education being rare in those 
days. The parents of Jonathan were religious people, who early 
taught their children to fear God and keep his commandments. 
They belonged to the Dunkard Church. 

In order to improve their circumstances, and being opposed 
to slavery, the Glimpse family moved from North Carolina in 
1808 to Preble County, Ohio. Here they lived until 1818, when 
they moved to Wayne County, Indiana. After a two-years' resi- 
dence there, they moved in the year 1820 to Indianapolis. In- 
dianapolis was then a very small place, containing only two 
business houses. A man called John Givans kept a small stock 
of groceries there, and another family named "Walpools kept dry 
goods and groceries together. But it was a lively place, and 
even at that time gave signs of its future greatness. The first 
court house in this little town was then in the course of erection. 
Mr. Jonathan Glimpse's father settled with his family six miles 
south of the city of Indianapolis, on the east side of the White 
River, where they lived for about ten years. It was here that 
Jonathan attended school for about six months, when his educa- 
tion was finished. This was in the year 1830. In the month of 
March of that year his mother and an elder sister died. In 
consequence of this great loss he left home on the Fourth of 
July following, and went to Indianapolis, where he worked for 
some time in a brick-yard. In June, 1832, he enlisted in the 
Black Hawk war. Their war commissary was General Hanna, 
who was the father of the late William H. Hanna of our city. 
Mr. Glimpse states that General Hanna was a very prominent 
man in Indianapolis at that time, and adds that his son resembled 
him in personal appearance. Mr. Glimpse served about sixty 
days in the Black Hawk war, when it terminated in the capture 



374 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of Black Hawk himself. Mr. Glimpse was in Chicago when 
peace was proclaimed, and he says that " Chicago was likely to 
become a lively place." He there discovered only two small 
grocery stores, the joint capital of which did not amount to 
more than $1,000, in his estimation. The lots on Lake street 
were then sold at $35 each. From Chicago he returned again 
to Indianapolis, where he worked for a short time on a farm west 
of town, belonging to Nicholas McCarty. 

On the first of January, 1835, he married Miss Elizabeth 
Bay. Mr. Henry Brenton, who had been his captain in the 
Black Hawk war, performed the marriage ceremony. In Feb- 
ruary of the same year he moved to Laporte, in the northern 
part of Indiana, where he lived until January, 1837, when he 
emigrated to McHenry County, Illinois, accompanied by his 
mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and two brothers-in-law. On his 
journey to Illinois, which lasted four days, he again saw 
Chicago, and was quite astonished at the change the place 
had undergone. He joined the Virginia settlement in Mc- 
Henry County. After having selected a location, he com- 
menced building a log cabin. Three of their party went to 
work hauling logs for the palace, and by sunset of the second 
day after their arrival they had all the logs for building a cabin, 
16 by 18. In three days the mansion was finished and ready for 
occupancy, when Jonathan felt rich. In May of that year he 
was out of provisions, and went down the Fox River for a fresh 
supply. He took his team and traveled about fifty miles, when 
he arrived at a settlement, where he bought ten bushels of corn 
and ten bushels of potatoes, for which he paid one dollar a 
bushel. The corn was the little "eight-row" corn, which is now 
quite out of use. On his return home he called at the mill, 
about five miles from his house, which had been built the sum- 
mer previous to his arrival. It was a horse-mill. The customers 
had to find their own team, and pay twelve and a half cents a 
bushel for grinding. Mr. Glimpse says, to grind three or four 
bushels a day was as much as one man could do, and he had to 
be very lively to get so much done, and then it was a meal that 
now our cows wouldn't eat. He did not raise a crop in the Virginia 
settlement, but loaded his things and went to Bloomington, 



m'lean county. 375 

where he arrived on the 20th of November, 1837. On the day 
of his arrival he and his brother-in-law each lost a horse by the 
colic. 

The first acquaintance which Mr. Glimpse made in McLean 
County was John Magoun, who was plastering at the house of 
David Trimmer, in Hudson township. During the winter of 
1837-8 he lived in Bloomington, and in the spring of 1838 he 
moved into a house belonging to Dr. Henry, which was then 
standing where Durley Hall now is. His barn was on the lot 
now occupied by Evans Brothers, grocers. The north slough 
was then about a hundred yards wide, and the people often had 
to pull the cows out of it in the spring of the year. Mr. Glimpse 
often heard the howl of wolves when he was at his barn. In 
1839 he raised corn in Durley field, which extended from Mul- 
berry to Walnut and then east to Evans street. It was during 
this year that Mr. Glimpse was introduced to Abraham Lincoln, 
as he attended court in company with John T. Stuart ; and he 
states that he often heard the pleadings in the court house while 
he was plowing corn. 

In 1842 Mr. Glimpse built a house in the southern part of 
the town, which cost him $600, but as nearly as he can remem- 
ber it cost him only fifty cents in money in building it. He states 
that such a thing as money was not in the country. Their prin- 
cipal stock in trade in those days was lumber. If any one 
desired to buy a horse, or cow, or wagon, he paid for it in lum- 
ber or other merchandise. He says he took dry cows for lumber 
at $5 and $6 a head, and wintered them and sold them to Dr. 
Painter for $7 a head. In payment, Mr. Glimpse took from Dr. 
Painter a horse, valued at $50, and a young dog at the same 
price as a cow. After various other small and profitable specu- 
lations, Mr. Glimpse engaged in 1845-6 in the butcher business, 
in which he succeeded very well.' In 1847 he was elected con- 
stable, served two years, and was afterwards re-elected for four 
years. During his second term of office he served only one 
year, when he was nominated by the Democratic party for 
sheriff, and was elected. His majority was 138. In the fall of 
1852, after his term in the sheriffalty had expired, he^went to 
the land sale with the intention of buying land, taking with him 
about $1,000 in gold. The land was sold at from $1.25 to $2.50 



376 OLD SETTLERS OF 

an acre, but as he considered the price too high, he came home 
without buying any. The same land is now worth from $30 to 
$100 an acre. 

Iti 1857 he entered into the grocery business, in which he 
lost all he had saved. His good nature induced him to give too 
much credit, and when hard, times came on shortly afterwards 
he could not collect any of his debts. He was obliged to discon- 
tinue business on this account, and he says: "I had numerous 
friends in the days of prosperity, but when adversity overtook 
me I had no friend to help me." He, however, still possessed 
two hundred and sixty acres of land on the Mackinaw, and to 
this land he moved an old frame house, the upper part of which 
was burnt oft'. This building, which still stands on the Mack- 
inaw, was the first court house in McLean County, and Mr. 
Glimpse thinks it would do Young America good to go down 
and look at it. 

In 1862 he was elected Supervisor of Hudson township, 
which position he filled with entire satisfaction to the people who 
elected him. 

Mr. Glimpse is not a rich man, but he is happy and con- 
tented. He does not ask for riches, but believes in the prayer, 
•'Give us this day our daily bread." He has had a family of 
nine children, of whom three are living, namely : 

Susanna, wife of C. R. Curtis, who lives in Farmer City. 

Lydia, wife of Joseph M. Dalton, who lives in Bloomington. 

Hattie E. Glimpse, who lives with her father. 

In personal appearance, Mr. Glimpse is about six feet in 
height; appears to be very muscular ; is broad shouldered ; has 
hazel eyes. His hair is turning gray, but he still has plenty of 
it. He is a man of quiet manners, and does not believe in much 
talk. 

Dr. Henry Conkling. 

Doctor Henry Conkling was born in April, 1814, at Morris- 
town, New Jerse} r . He lived in New York city with his parents 
until he was seventeen years of age. A queer little incident 
occurred when Henry was six or seven years old. He had heard 
a great deal of Lafayette, and when the old Revolutionary sol- 
dier made his last visit to America, it was one morning 



m'lean county. 377 

announced that he was in the City Hall receiving visitors. Little 
Henry was wild with excitement, and ran at once to the City 
Hall with his hat off, worked his way through the crowd and 
grasped the hand of Lafayette. Of course the little fellow was 
delighted, as it was quite an event in his young existence. Dr. 
Conkling received a very fair common education. He attended 
the high school in New York, and went to the academy at Mor- 
ristown, New Jersey. At the latter place he studied French, 
Latin and Greek. 

In 1831 the Conkling family moved to Ohio. In the spring 
of 1837 Dr. Conkling was married in Knox County, Ohio, and 
in October, 1838, he came West. He traveled on horseback, but 
the journey was a hard one. The roads were in a very bad con- 
dition, and the country seemed almost a wilderness. He came 
to Leroy, where he had a brother living, who laid out the most 
of that town. He remained there a few months and returned to 
Ohio. In the following fall he came West with his wife and 
child. They traveled in a two -horse wagon and camped out on the 
road. Their goods were sent by water by way of Pekin. Some of 
them came within six months and some not for a year after they 
were shipped. At that time the deer and wolves were very 
plenty, and almost every evening the wolves made music around 
his dwellino;. Dr. Conkling studied medicine with Dr. Edwards 
at Leroy, and taught school there and at Old Town timber. 

The political campaign of 1840 was the log-cabin, hard-cider 
and coon-skin campaign. Such political excitement was proba- 
bly never known before. General Harrison's name, his acts and 
everything connected with his life created the greatest enthu- 
siasm. The cry of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" raised the 
wildest excitement. People built log-cabins and covered them 
with coon-skins and dealt out hard-cider ; and in order to rep- 
resent "Tippecanoe" they sometimes made a canoe ! During 
this campaign a large meeting was held at Springfield. Dele- 
gations came in from all over the country. Large parties went 
to Springfield, camping out on the way, with their various de- 
vices. A number of citizens from Bloomington and adjoiniDg 
towns built a canoe and took it with them to the great meeting. 
Among them was Dr. Conkling. They camped out on the road 
at Waynesville and Elkhart Grove. When they came to the 



378 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Sangamon River they found it very high, and were obliged to 
swim their horses and wagons over. Those who could swim 
did so, while those who could not, crossed in a flat-boat. They 
stayed several days at Springfield and had an enthusiastic time. 
The State capital was then a muddy little village, and the party 
were obliged to camp out, for the little place could not furnish 
any accommodation for so large a crowd. The party returned 
home with enough campaign thunder to last them during the 
summer and fall. 

In 1843 Dr. Conkling moved to Sugar Creek, near Mount 
Hope in the southwestern part of the county, and practiced 
medicine there one year. He then moved to Washington, Taze- 
well County, but here his health failed him and he returned to 
Ohio. While there he read and practiced medicine five years 
and received his diploma in the term of 1849-50 from the Ster- 
ling Medical College, located at Columbus, Ohio. His wife died 
in Ohio, and in the spring of 1850 he came back to McLean 
County, Illinois, and settled at Hudson, nine miles north of 
Bloomington. While there he practiced medicine fourteen or 
fifteen years. On his return from Ohio, he married the widow 
of Lucian A. Sampson, who had died of the cholera in 1848. 
This very amiable lady died October 19, 1873. When Dr. 
Conkling first practiced medicine in Hudson the country was 
wild. He was accustomed to ride around Money Creek, Lex- 
ington, Panther Creek, Mackinaw, and White Oak, and some- 
times as far as Mount Pleasant. He had many rough adventures 
while riding his rounds, and sometimes broke through the ice 
while crossing the Mackinaw. Sometimes he was obliged to 
swim the river as there were no bridges across it then. Often- 
times, for amusement, he chased the deer and wolves while 
riding to see his patients. He rode over that region of country 
for a distance of twenty or thirty miles around. 

In 1856 or 1858 Dr. Conkling had a very lively adventure 
with a horse-thief, and as a description of it will show much of 
the condition of the country at that time, it is given here. 

The doctor had been on the north side of the Mackinaw 
where he had been unexpectedly detained, and while coming 
home late on Saturday night, he passed a man on horseback this 
side of Kappa, bareheaded, going north on the highway. The 



m'lean county. 379 

night was pretty dark, and the doctor could not recognize man 
or beast. "When he arrived home, he found his stable door open 
and his horse, saddle and bridle gone. The doctor aroused two 
of his neighbors and obtained the assistance of two young men, 
one of whom carried a rifle. The party of three then started, 
the doctor in his buggy and the two young men on horseback. 
They crossed the Mackinaw where Kappa now stands and crossed 
the prairie north to Panola and up through it two miles to a 
point of timber called Brewer's Point. There the party learned 
by waking up a family that the dogs had barked loudly some 
time before, and by this they knew they were on the track of 
their man. The prairie was twelve or fifteen miles across and 
when they were in the midst of it, they saw a man walking and 
leading a horse, about three miles distant and about four miles 
from the timber. When the stranger saw the party he mounted 
his horse and started for the timber, and the two young men 
started for him, while the doctor followed in his buggy. The 
chase was intensely exciting, one of the young men had a racing 
mare, and all parties seem to shoot across the prairie. Some- 
times they were in sight, and sometimes they went down out of 
view, and before long they all disappeared in the timber. Short- 
ly afterwards the doctor came into the grove and found his 
horse, for the thief had been hard pressed and let it go. But 
the thief was considered bigger game than the horse, and some 
of the citizens of the grove turned out to assist in the chase. 
After hunting around for some time the doctor peeped into a 
hazel thicket and there found a stalwart man lying on his back, 
with his eyes shut, pretending to be asleep. They immediately 
took charge of the gentleman and carried him to Bloomington, 
thirty miles distant, where they arrived a little after dark. When 
they came to the jail the doctor went in and brought out the 
deputy sheriff, and the young men said that while he was gone 
the thief had tried to get away ; but he protested "by shures, 
shentlemens, I wouldn't try to get away from a child ten years 
old." Suddenly, in a moment of inattention, the thief sprang 
out into the street, and his quick movement scared the horses, 
which were not tied, and they began to run. The thief and the 
horses both went down Centre street, and the former sprang 
into an alley by a blacksmith shop (near Kadgihn's). The doctor 



380 OLD SETTLERS OF 

went for the thief, the others attended to the team. But the 
thief hid himself so successfully that all parties gave him up, 
except the doctor, who would never give anythiDg up. He 
hunted the town over, and at last discovered his man starting 
out of the alley he had first entered. The thief ran down 
"Washington street, at first keeping the sidewalk and afterwards 
the road. When near the end of the street he fell, and the doc- 
tor grabbed him before he could rise. The excitement of the 
chase brought many citizens, who immediately secured the thief 
(who wouldn't run away from a child!) and took him to jail. 
He was put into a cell with four or five other candidates for the 
penitentiary. Within about six weeks these industrious gentle- 
men had cut a hole through the floor of their cell, and with a 
case-knife had dug a hole under the foundation of the building 
and up to the open air. They left without any formality. They 
"stood not upon the order of their going but went at once," and 
were never recaptured. 

At that time people were all anxious to catch the thieves, 
which infested the country, and the whole neighborhood was 
willing to turn out, if need be, but the insufficient jails allowed 
prisoners to escape. 

During the late war Doctor Conkling was sent to the South 
by Governor Yates as an additional surgeon, to look after the 
sanitary condition of the soldiers. He went to Fort Donelson, 
to Shiloh and other places. While at home he looked after the 
sick and wounded soldiers on furlough, and extended their period 
of absence when the}' were unfit for dut} 7 . He was govern- 
ment pension surgeon for about three years after the close of 
the war. 

In the spring of 1864 Dr. Conkling moved to Bloomington. 
During this year he wrote a campaign document entitled, "The 
Inside View of the Rebellion and the American Citizens' Text 
Book." A great many thousand copies of this document were 
circulated. Illinois took the first ten thousand, which were 
printed by the Chicago Tribune. The document was also pub- 
lished in Cincinnati, and many thousands of copies were 
circulated in Ohio, Indiana and other States. It was a remark- 
ably effective campaign document and greatly helped to roll up 
the large majority which was given to re-elect Abraham Lin- 
coln. 



m'lean county. 381 

We now come to that part of the life of Dr. Conkling which 
is considered the most important by the people in this vicinity, 
and that is his connection with the Indianapolis, Bloomington 
and Western Railroad. This road was first called the Danville, 
Urbana, Bloomington and Pekin Railroad. The first meeting 
called for the purpose of taking steps to build it was held at 
Urbana. After some consultation it adjourned to meet at Leroy, 
McLean County, on the seventh of August, 1866. At the latter 
meeting delegates were present from the points oh the proposed 
line and the best of feeling prevailed ; everyone was hope- 
ful. Still another meeting was held on the twenty-seventh and 
was still more largely attended and confidence in the enterprise 
began to grow. But in the meantime some opposition was mani- 
fested ; nevertheless the friends of the road effected an organi- 
zation and elected C. R. Griggs as President, William T. Mc- 
Cord as Vice President, and Dr. Henry Conkling as Secretary. 
In the building of a railroad many interests are effected, favor- 
ably and otherwise, and it so happened that this proposed rail- 
road interfered with other railway projects and the opposition 
to it in some places became so strong that its friends despaired 
of success. Nevertheless, Dr. Conkling clung to the project and 
worked for it through good and evil report. Many citizens 
thought the enterprise chimerical, and when the question came 
up as to whether Bloomington would lend assistance the matter 
seemed hopeless enough. But the Doctor had " kept his powder 
dry," and when the day of election came for the citizens to de- 
cide by their ballots whether they would help the enterprise, the 
Doctor worked night and day. He spared no exertions and was 
a host in himself. He carried the day and saw the project at- 
tended with the most complete success. He went to Springfield 
and obtained the charter for the road and never rested until the 
work was complete. The road was consolidated with the Indi- 
anapolis, Crawfordsville and Danville road, and was called the 
Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western, which is its title now. 

Dr. Conkling held the position of secretary of the road for 
eighteen months, and then, as the offices of the company were 
removed from Bloomington, he resigned. He has ever since 
been a director of the road or special agent. The Doctor has 
made no money out of this road. This may well seem a matter 



382 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of astonishment. How is it possible for a man to work night 
and day for the success of his enterprise, without hesitating or 
relaxing his efforts, and finally bring it to a glorious conclusion, 
and not make any money ? But so it is. The Doctor was 
anxious for the development of the country and for the public 
welfare, and, having once undertaken the work, he never allowed 
it to flag. On the first of May, 1870, he drove the last bolt 
which tied it together from Pekin to Indianapolis. On the 
second of May the citizens of Bloomington presented him with 
a fine gold watch as some slight testimonial of their appreciation 
of his efforts to build the road and develop the interests of the 
city. The watch has in it a pretty design of a locomotive and 
tender, with the letters I., B. and W. Above this design is an 
inscription, " Presented to Dr. H. Conkling by the citizens of 
Bloomington, May 2, 1870." 

Dr. Conkling has been connected with the Methodist Church 
for the last thirty-three or four years. He has taken an interest 
in the growth of the church as well as in the development of the 
material interests of the country. From the nature of his busi- 
ness he became well acquainted with the country and watched 
its development. He saw the farms opening out, the houses 
springing up, and later he saw the old buildings give place to 
the new. Very few men are held in such high esteem, and it 
would be well if all would act from motives as pure and honor- 
able. 

Dr. Conkling is a tall man and rather slim. His hair and 
whiskers are becoming gray as age creeps on. His eyes are 
gray, but they have a very clear expression. He would never 
be taken for a railroad man ; he does not seem to possess a 
material nature. He does not have the appearance and expres- 
sion of a man who works for money; but seems one who would 
rather have a clear conscience than any amount of wealth. But, 
in looking over this sketch, we can see pretty clearly that his 
will-power, his disposition to hold on and never relax his grip, 
is very large. He hunted down the thief who stole his horse, 
and he carried through, to final success, the project of building 
the I., B. & W. Railroad, when it would most certainly have 
failed had it not have been for his efforts. 



m'lean county. 383 

CHENEY'S GROVE. 

Jonathan Cheney. 

Jonathan Cheney was born September 13, 1785, in Free- 
man's Fort, on Booth's Creek, in Virginia, in what was then 
called New Virginia. His parents were born in New York, 
and were Americans as far as can be ascertained. 

Jonathan Cheney married, March 22, 1805, Catherine Owen. 
They were raised together. She was born October 16, 1787, in 
Edward's Fort, (she thinks). She is of Welch descent. The 
people in those days, (1787) were obliged to live in forts nearly 
all the time, and go out to work protected by a company of men 
as a guard. They were oftentimes short of provisions, and Mrs. 
Cheney, who gives these items, remembers when they were 
obliged to live two weeks on boiled nettles, as no bread could 
be obtained. The Indians were a constant source of annoyance 
and trouble, and oftentimes lay in wait for the settlers, as they 
left the forts in the morning and went to work. Mrs. Cheney's 
great uncle was killed by Indians while on his way to work. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cheney, after their marriage, moved about fif- 
teen miles away to some land, which they owned, and remained 
there eighteen months, when they moved (in the fall of 1806) on 
horseback to Champaign County, about ten miles from where 
Urbana now stands, and thirty miles from Columbus. Ohio. 
Mary Cheney, afterwards Mrs. Stansberry, was born two days 
after their arrival. They lived there until the fall of 1817, when 
Mr. Cheney moved to Southern Illinois. He crossed the Wa- 
bash and went out on the main road from Vincennes to St. 
Louis. When they came out on the prairie, where nothing 
could be seen but the level earth and the blue sky, Mary 
Cheney remarked that she had " never been so far from laud 
before." The country was soft and quicksandy, and sometimes 
the horses would sink in up to their fetlocks. The Cheney fam- 
ily was obliged to get provisions some miles away across a 
swamp called Purgatory. This swamp was impassable except 
by a bridge. But a high water came and washed the bridge 
away, and they were left for three weeks with very little to eat, 
as it was impossible during that time to get provisions. They 
then started back to Ohio. There were at that time five chil- 



384 OLD SETTLERS OF 

dren in the family. They crossed the Wabash River when it 
was very dangerous, and the water plashed in. The weather 
was then very cold, so cold that the horses were whitened with 
the frost of their own breath. Mr. Cheney walked and drove 
the horses while the family rode in the wagon on a feather bed 
with a feather tick over them as a cover. One child, Keturah, 
was very troublesome, and had to be tied down. They made 
good time in traveling, and returned to their old place in Ohio. 
There Mr. Cheney bought seven hundred acres of land of Gen- 
eral McArthur, and put up a saw mill and gristmill, and seemed 
to be in a flourishing condition, so far as his worldly prospects 
were concerned. Bat he was unsatisfied, and he determined to 
come to Illinois. The family started September 21, 1825, and 
arrived October 16, at Blooming Grove, at John W. Dawson's 
place. The family had by this time grown to eight children. 
They lived two weeks with Mr. Dawson. On the fourth of No- 
vember they came to Cheney's Grove. Their cattle were grazed 
for a while at the head of Old Town timber upon blue grass, 
but soon a fire came and burned it off, and the cattle were 
brought to Cheney's Grove. 

During that winter Mr. Cheney went back to Ohio to settle 
up his business and sell that part of his land which he had not 
previously disposed of. While there he suddenly changed his 
mind and determined to bring his family back to Ohio. He 
wrote to them to come back; but fortunately his letter never 
reached them. During that winter Mrs. Cheney remained alone 
with her family, and saw, during the whole time, four white 
people, two men and two women. This was from January 1 
until April. The family lived in a cabin, which Mr. Cheney 
had put up before he left, and their cattle lived on the twigs of 
trees, principally Linn brush ; but the milch cows received a 
little corn in addition. Tne stock went through the winter and 
came out in good condition in the spring, without the loss of a 
single animal. The family ground their wheat in a coffee-mill 
and their corn at a horse-mill, twenty-five miles distant. When 
the boys made arrangements to go to mill, they calculated how 
much provision would be necessary to support the family until 
their return, and they usually started in time to prevent the sup- 
ply from being exhausted. But at one time they met with delay 



m'lean county. 385 

and Mrs. Cheney had to bring down her coffee-mill and grind 
wheat to support the family until the boys returned. She first 
ground the wheat with the coffee-mill set course, and then ground 
it again with the mill set fine. The flour made the best of bread. 
The family raised their first corn on the south side of the timber 
without any fence, while the stock was kept with the family on 
the north side. On the south side of the grove some Indians 
were camped with a hundred head of horses, and they ran and 
capered over the ground, which Mr. Cheney had plowed and 
planted. He ordered them to leave, and at last told them that 
if they did not make themselves scarce by a certain time, he 
would bring the white men down on them. Then he pointed 
a fire-brand at their wigwams in a significant manner, and they 
left in haste. 

During the winter of the deep snow the Cheney family num- 
bered seventeen persons in all, and they were obliged to be lively 
in pounding corn in order to have something to eat. Mr. Cheney 
picked the corn from the crib and prepared it for pounding. 
Ebenezer Cheney, Jonathan's nephew, who had been a black- 
smith, pounded corn ; Thomas Cheney, (Jonathan's son,) Elijah 
Britton and George Spore, cut and drew the wood and fed the 
cattle shocked corn ; Henry Ball fed the horses and calves ; 
Owen Cheney went to school at Blooming Grove, and Mrs. 
Cheney, Mary, Keturah and Emilia did the housework and spun 
the tow. Everyone had plenty of work. The snow came and 
covered up the pigs, and they had to be spaded out. They could 
be found by little holes in the snow, where their breath had 
thawed up through. The family all had good health and were 
not made sick by rich fare or over-eating. 

Jonathan and Catharine Cheney's children and children's 
children to the third generation have grown to be legion. They 
are : 

Mary Cheney, who was born September 13, 1806, in Ohio, 
was married to Abraham Stansberry, and died in 1867. She 
had five children (two of whom lived to be grown) and five grand 
children. 

Thomas Cheney, born October 6, 1808, in Ohio, married 
Susan Maxwell, and lives in Sonoma County, California. lie 
25 



386 OLD SETTLERS OF 

has six children, all of whom are living, and all but one have 
families. He has thirty-one grand-children. 

Owen Cheney, born September 2, 1810, in Ohio, married 
Maria Dawson, and had five children, three of whom lived to be 
grown and have families. He has four grand-children. He died 
at the age of thirty-eight. 

Rebecca and Elizabeth Cheney were twins, were born in Ohio 
January 6, 1813, and died in infancy. 

Keturah Cheney was born February 16, 1815, and died Jan- 
uary 14, 1834. 

Emilia Cheney was born January 29, 1817, in Ohio, was mar- 
ried to Ashley D. Horr and had five children, three of whom 
are living. She has had seven grand-children. She died June 
12, 1862. 

George Chenej^ was born February 18, 1819, and died August 
17, 1866. He married Cynthia Ann Hall, had eight children 
and four grand-children. 

One unnamed child died in infancy. 

William Haines Cheney was born February 18, 1822, married 
Mary Jane Orendorff and had nine children and one grand- 
child. 

Catherine Cheney was born May 30, 1825, in Ohio, was mar- 
ried to John Prothero. She has had five children. 

Return Jonathan Cheney was born August 24, 1828, at Che- 
ney's Grove. He married Margaret Green and had four chil- 
dren. She died, and he afterwards married Maria Rice and had 
three chilldren. 

Rebecca Cheney was born December 7, 1831, was married to 
Benjamin Prothero in May, 1848, and has had several children, 
four of whom are living. 

It will be seen then that Jonathan and Catharine Cheney 
have had thirteen children, of whom four are living. Their 
strand-children are fifty-nine, and great grand-children are fifty. 

Jonathan Cheney died March 21, 1862. He was about five 
feet and ten inches in height, was straight and muscular, had a 
large forehead, was a very determined man, and his appearance 
would show that when he undertook anything he tried very hard 
to carry it through. He was a pleasant, cheerful man, and loved 
practical jokes. He was the first settler at Cheney's Grove, 
which took its name from him. 



m'lean county. 387 

The information necessary for this sketch of Jonathan Che- 
ney has been furnished by his widow, Catherine Cheney, who 
lives at the house of her daughter, Mrs. Benjamin Prothero. 
The old lady is now in the eighty-seventh year of her age. She 
complained that her faculties had failed her, but from the infor- 
mation furnished, she will be seen to have remembered the inci- 
dents of her husband's eventful life remarkably well. She was 
quietly attending to her knitting as she talked, for her old habits 
of industry clung to her. She is a very kind old lady and re- 
ceives all the care and attention possible to make her life 
pleasant. 

Hon. William Haines Cheney. 

William Haines Cheney was born February 18, 1822,- in 
Champaign Count}% Ohio. In 1825 the family came to Cheney's 
Grove, in what is now McLean County, Illinois, as is seen by 
the sketch of his father, Jonathan Cheney. Here Haines Cheney 
received his limited education. He attended school for some 
time under the instruction of his sister, afterwards Mrs. Stans- 
berry. She kept her school at Cheney's Grove during the winter 
of the deep snow. He attended school during the winter sea- 
sons until the age of nineteen, and studied the old Dillingworth 
spelling-book. It was the custom in the early schools to study 
aloud, so that the master could be certain that the scholars were 
really at their lessons. The result was a noisy, distracting hub- 
bub of voices. But it is pretty clear that such scholars could 
never be sick with the consumption. This noisy system was 
broken up at Cheney's Grove by a certain Mr. Harberson, who 
introduced the quiet system. He was a very fine teacher and 
would be so considered even at the present time. He kept a 
subscription school. 

The little Indian boys often came to see young Haines and 
taught him to use the bow and arrow, and he became quite 
skillful and could bring down the little birds out of the trees. 

Mr. Cheney acquired a taste for hunting and killed deer, 
wolves and turkeys. The deer are by far the gamiest animals 
to be hunted, particular^ when hunted with dogs and horses. 
When they are caught, they never give up and put their heads on 
the ground, as the wolves do, but fight to the last. Mr. Cheney 



388 OLD SETTLERS OF 

speaks of a buck, which was wounded and brought down by the 
dogs, but which would, nevertheless, have whipped the dogs and 
escaped, had it not been shot again. 

Mr. Cheney was obliged in early days to go a long distance 
to mill ; was at first compelled to go to the Big Wabash and 
afterwards to Green's mill near Ottawa, seventy-five miles dis- 
tant. When Jonathan Cheney broke the first prairie he was 
obliged to go to Eugene on horseback with his plough-irons to 
get them sharpened. This was about eighty miles distant. 

In early days the doctors were scarce, from which it might be 
inferred, that the health of the people was good and the number 
of deaths few ; but the hardships of the settlers, the turning up 
of much raw prairie soil, and various other things, were the 
causes of much sickness, even in the absence of doctors. 

In the early days boys were obliged to work. Haines Cheney 
plowed corn, Avhen he was seven years old, and it did not hurt 
his constitution at all. He wore the simplest clothing, for the 
old settlers made all of their articles of wear. He never wore 
anything but home-spun, until he was eighteen years of age. In 
1840 he won a suit of clothes on a wager that General Harrison 
would be elected president. The wager was paid and the suit 
was cut by the tailor in the latest fashion of that day. The ma- 
terial was mixed jeans, Mrs. Cheney's own make. After he had 
this suit, Haines Cheney was for some time a popular man among 
the ladies. 

Haines Cheney was married jSTovember 10, 1842, to Miss Mary 
Jane Orendorff, daughter of William and Lavina Orendorff, by 
B. H. Cofiey, the Clerk of the County Court and ex-officio Jus- 
tice of the Peace. Mrs. Cheney was a lady very much respected 
and admired by a large circle of friends. Mr. and Mrs. Cheney 
have had a family of nine children, seven of whom are living. 
The children are : 

Lavina, born March 19, 1844, wife of William Henry Beck- 
with, lives at Saybrook. 

Jay Cheney, born September 18, 1846, died January 11, 
1847." 

Miss Kate Cheney lives at home. 

Charlie Cheney, born May 2, 1851, is married and lives in 
Jasper County, Indiana. 



m'lean county. 389 

Miss Emma Cheney lives at home. 

Wiley Cheney, born August 8, 1857, died August 1, 1860. 
Harry Cheney, born December 13, 1858, Mary Belle Cheney, 
born February 1, 1862, and Minnie Kstelle Cheney, born De- 
cember 30, 1865, all live at home. 

Mrs. Cheney died August 7, 1868, and was buried in the old 
cemetery, and afterwards removed to the new cemetery. 

In 1867 Haines Cheney was elected to the State Senate to 
succeed Hon. Isaac Funk. The session was noted for the pas- 
sage of the State House appropriation, the location of the Indus- 
trial College at Champaign, and for improving the Illinois canal 
and the building of the southern prison. 

Haines Cheney married, May 28, 1873, Miss Caroline Brown, 
daughter of Demas and Mary Brown of Medina, Ohio. She is 
a very amiable and pleasant lady and possesses much tact and 
judgment. 

Mr. Cheney is of medium height, is rather slim, though a 
man of good development of muscle. He has dark hair and 
gray eyes. He seems a gentleman of good taste and correct 
judgment, and is very much respected, not only in the commu- 
nity where he resides, but wherever he is known and his influ- 
ence is felt. 

George Cheney. 

George Cheney, son of Jonathan and Catherine Cheney, was 
born February 18, 1819, in Champaign County, Ohio. When 
in the sixth year of his age his parents came to Illinois. He 
received his common school education at Cheney's Grove. He 
was very little of a hunter, but could chase wolves, as this was 
really part of the business of the settlers. At the age of twenty- 
two he married Miss Cynthia Ann Hall, daughter of Prior and 
Mary Hall, of Old Town timber. Prior Hall was an old set- 
tler, but in 1850 he went to Sacramento, California, where he 
died in the fall. When George Cheney was married he settled 
on a farm, now known as the Harpster farm and occupied at 
present by Amos Bay. But George Cheney's family afterwards 
went to live on the Cheney homestead, which was afterwards 
divided, William Haines Cheney taking one-half and George 
Cheney the other. In the spring of 1866, George Cheney's 



390 OLD SETTLERS OF 

house was burned, and he immediately began to build anew ; 
but when he had only commenced the work, he died. His death 
occurred August 17, 1866, after a three weeks illness with typhoid 
fever. He had eight children, of whom six are living. They 
are : 

Mary Eliza, born January 28, 1842, died July 19, 1845. 

Almira, born September 21, 1844, wife of J. W. Lowry, lives 
at Saybrook. 

Owen Cheney, born November 2, 1848, is married and lives 
at Saybrook. 

Orval Cheney, born December 8, 1852, lives at home and 
works the farm. 

Thomas Cheney, born February 5, 1856, Hellen Cheney, born 
May 31, 1858, and Lincoln Cheney, born December 24, 1860, 
live at home. 

William Cheney, born July 18, 1864, died July 28, 1866. 

George Cheney was of medium stature and rather slim, but 
was rather fleshy a few years previous to his death. His eyes 
were dark brown and expressive. He was very quick in his 
movements, but was quickly exhausted. His constitution was 
never rugged, as he had the typhoid fever, when fourteen years 
of age and never fully recovered from the effects of the disease. 
He was a very kind husband and a very indulgent father. He 
believed in universal salvation, but did not belong to any par- 
ticular church. He was buried in the old cemetery, but re- 
moved to the new cemetery, which forms a part of his farm. 

James Vanscoyoc. 

James Vanscoyoc was born February 20, 1798, in Mononge- 
hela County, Pennsylvania. His father's name was Jonathan 
Vanscoyoc and his mother's maiden name was Hannah Wall ; 
but at the time of her marriage to Mr. Vanscoyoc she was a 
widow, and her name was Mrs. Ketchum. When James Van- 
scoyoc was five or six years old, his parents moved to Colum- 
biana County, Ohio, where they remained seven or eight years, 
and there James received such education as could be had in those 
early days. The family then went to the Mad River country, 
but it was so sickly that after one year's time they returned to 
Columbiana County. Shortly afterwards they went to Wayne 



m'lean county. 391 

County, where the family lived until they were grown up and 
scattered. There James Vanscoyoc married in April, 1819, 
Drusilla Lewis. During the following year he moved to Foun- 
tain County, Indiana, where he experienced hard work and very 
little else. In 1829 he moved to Old Town timber in McLean 
County, Illinois. There he went to farming, which has been his 
occupation ever since. He lived there about twenty years and 
then moved to the old Means place at Cheney's Grove, where he 
has resided ever since. 

Mr. Vanscoyoc has been something of a traveler in the West. 
He first made a trip to the Red Banks in Illinois on the Missis- 
sippi River, six or seven years after he came to the country, but 
had no particular adventure. His next trip was to Texas in 
about the year 1853. He went with a party of men first to St. 
Louis, and from there to the little town of Napoleon at the 
mouth of the Arkansas River. This little place looked as if it 
were always in danger of being overflowed. They went by w 7 ater 
up the Arkansas River about seven hundred miles to Fort Smith. 
This was then an enterprising little town of whites, Indians and 
half-breeds, the latter predominating. The Indians were the 
Cherokees, a very smart tribe. In conversation he found many 
Cherokees as smart as any white men he ever saw. He found a 
white man named Geary, who had married a squaw. She was 
pretty dark colored, but was dressed in silks that rattled and 
shone. Many of the Cherokees were farmers and seemed half 
like Indians and half like white men. The most of the Chero- 
kees, who were in business, owned slaves. They held court and 
tried cases as white men do. Many of them were rich and owned 
large herds of cattle. Mr. Vanscoyoc went from Fort Smith to 
the Red River country, where he visited the Chickasaws on the 
north bank. He thought them more civilized than the Chero- 
kees. "When they first went to the Indian Territory, they had 
large cotton plantations, which had been cultivated by negroes. 
He saw there the finest field of corn he ever beheld. It covered 
about one hundred acres, was dark green in color and rank in 
growth, and the blades were long and wide. lie crossed the 
Red River and went on to Texas, but saw nothing of much im- 
portance except some very fine wheat. On the return of his 
party they crossed the Arkansas River a little below Fort Gibson. 



392 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The "White River empties into the Arkansas a few miles above, 
and its waters, which are very pure, run for a long distance be- 
fore they mingle with those of the larger stream. After cross- 
ing the Arkansas Iliver the party were obliged to send over to 
the White River side for pure water. Nothing else of import- 
ance occurred on the way home. In May, 1873, Mr. Yanscoyoc 
took a trip to Colorado. He went to Kansas city and there saw 
buffalo hides by acres hanging on poles, and large squares of 
them were piled up ten feet high. He went up the Kansas 
Iliver and says the land there was the prettiest he ever beheld. 
The bottom lands were from a half a mile to six or seven miles 
wide, but very little timber grew on them. He says that Rus- 
sell County was a particularly fine country. The buffaloes were 
plenty there and the buffalo "wallows" were plentier. The 
latter were places where the buffaloes rooted in the ground and 
wallowed as the pigs do. He went to Denver, Colorado, and to 
Cheyenne, and from there started home. On his return he stop- 
ped on Grand Island, Nebraska, and was most favorably im- 
pressed with the appearance of the land, as it was very level. 
But after all his travels, Mr. Yanscoyoc still clings to old Mc- 
Lean County. 

Air. Vanscoyoc has had seven children. They are : 

Perry Vanscoyoc, who was born April 17, 1820, and now 
lives in Arrowsmith township. 

Isaac Vanscoyoc, the next son, died when quite 3'oung. 

Rebecca Vanscoyoc was born February 7, 1825, was married 
to Marks Banks, and lives in Padua 'township, next to the 
timber. 

Rachel Vanscoyoc was born August 29, 1828, was married 
to John Newcom, and lives at Cheney's Grove, a little east of 
her father's. 

Walter Yanscoyoc was born September 10, 1831, and lives 
in Arrowsmith township. 

James Vanscoyoc was born December 28, 1834, and lives at 
the homestead at Cheney's Grove. 

Hannah Vanscoj^oc died when very young. 

Mr. Vanscoyoc is about five feet seven and one-half inches in 
height, has a fair development of muscle and a sanguine temper- 
ament. His hair is only partly gray, notwithstanding his ad- 



m'lean county. 393 

vanced age. He can work yet if he chooses. lie seems to be 
a decided and firm man, and must have been a man of good 
abilities and very accurate perceptions. He is honest, kind and 
pleasant, but firm and resolute. 

Thomas Cunn i n< i e am. 

Thomas Cunningham was born November 18, 1818, in Clark 
County, Indiana. (For ancestry of the family see sketch of 
King S. Cunningham.) The parents of Thomas Cunningham 
were good people and very kind to their children, but were 
careful to enfore strict obedience and always set a good example. 
They are both buried in Saybrook Cemetery. 

The Cunningham family settled at Cheney's Grove in Octo- 
ber, 1829. There' Robert Cunningham entered four hundred 
acres of land. The old gentleman lived to see his family of 
fifteen children grow up to manhood and womanhood. All of 
them were married and settled in life ; twelve of these children 
are yet living and six are in McLean County. Thomas Cun- 
ningham, the subject of this sketch, was the sixth child. His 
education was necessarily limited. He attended school in Che- 
ney's Grove every winter after the family moved there, until he 
was twenty-one years of age. During his last year's schooling 
he went to Old Town timber. This school was conducted with 
as much noise as possible. The teacher walked across the floor 
and whistled and sang, and the scholars exercised their vocal 
powers in a similar way. The books used were few. Mr. Cun- 
ningham only remembers McArthur's History of the United 
States. Thomas only obtained the rudiments of an education. 

Mr. Cunningham was never much of a hunter, and only 
killed one deer, and that was one which came up near his door. 
But he often chased wolves, and when he came near one he 
would jump from his horse, catch the vicious wolf by the hind- 
quarters and thrash it on the ground, before it could curl up to 
bite. 

Thomas Cunningham married, February 21, 1841, Miss Mi- 
nerva Ann Spencer, daughter of James and Susannah Spencer, 
of Livingston County, Illinois. Mrs. Cunningham is an exceed- 
ingly kind lady and her pleasant manner makes the stranger feel 
easy in her presence. She wears spectacles now, as women 



394 OLD SETTLERS OF 

sometimes must as well as men. She is a lady of fine sense and 
her husband always listens to her with respect. 

They have had a family of six children, four of whom are 
living. They are : 

Phoebe Ann, born December 10, 1841, was married to Henry 
Warrick of Livingston County, and some time after his death to 
Granville Michaels. 

Lucinda Jane, born April 28, 1844, was married to John 
Armstrong of Livingston County, and some time after his death 
to "William Vanhorn. 

James William Cunningham, born July 6, 1851, is married 
and lives in Livingston County. 

Ellen Catherine died when nine months old. 

Harvey Johnson Cunningham, born November 26, 1854, 
lives at home. 

Lewis Harrison Ballard Cunningham, born June 14, 1859, 
lives at home. 

Mr. Cunningham is about five feet ten inches in height, 
weighs one hundred and eighty pounds and is broad shouldered. 
His beard is gray and his hair is turning, but is heavy, showing 
ing great vitality. His eyes are hazel, and he seems to be a 
quiet, good-natured gentleman, a man who never does things in 
a hurry, but always takes time to think. 

King Solomon Cunningham. 

King Solomon Cunningham was born December 26, 1823, in 
Clark County, Indiana. His father's name was Robert Cun- 
ningham, and his mother's name was Aphia Cleveland. His 
father, who was born about the year 1780, was of Irish descent, 
and his mother was a Yankee. Robert Cunningham was a sol- 
dier of the war of 1812, and fought under Harrison at Tippe- 
canoe. 

In 1829 the Cunningham family came to Cheney's Grove 
from Clark County, Indiana, where Robert Cunningham had 
lived for twenty years. At Cheney's Grove the family went to 
farming, and a few years afterwards Robert Cunningham built a 
water mill on Sangamon Creek. The stones for grinding were 
the nigger-heads from the prairie, but they did very good work. 
The water at that time was usually high enough to run the mill 



M'LEAN COUNTY. 



395 



all summer. Mr. Cunningham was obliged to work, and his 
boys were obliged to do the same, for the West was no place 
for idlers. 

Mr. King Solomon Cunningham is particularly eloquent con- 
cerning the sudden change in the weather, which took place in 
December, 1836, and says that as the cold wind rolled on, it 
froze the air so rapidly that the frost seemed a moving cloud of 
smoke. He speaks of the two rainy seasons, when the water in 
the creeks and rivers rose to enormous heights. In 1844 the 
Mackinaw was higher than ithad ever been known before or since. 
The Sangamon Creek was too high for Cunningham's mill to 
run. The year 1858 was another rainy season, and Sangamon 
Creek was higher than in 1844. 

King Solomon Cunningham married* February 29, 1849, 
Oyrena J. Thompson, who lived on the Mackinaw, five miles 
from Lexington. Her father, John B. Thompson, was one of 
the oldest settlers of McLean County. They have had six chil- 
dren, three of whom are living. They are : 

Mrs. Eliza Jane McFarland, wife of J. B. McFarland, lives 
six miles north of her father's, in Cropsey township. 

Henry B. Cunningham lives in Sonoma County, California. 
He is an active, industrious young man, and his father feels 
justly proud of him. 

John W. Cunningham, the youngest of the family, is the pet 
and lives at home. 

King Solomon Cunningham is five feet ten inches in height, 
is rather slim in build, is bald-headed, has a bright, clear eye 
and straight features. He is very kind in his manner, has been 
obliged to work hard, but has been successful in life, and is a 
settler who does credit to McLean County. 

James Rumsey Means. 

James Rumsey Means was born March 22, 1825, in Louis 
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Robert Means, and 
his mother's maiden name was Sarah Rumsey. His father and 
mother were both born in Virginia, and were both of English 
descent. The former was born in 1785 and the latter in 1795. 
Robert Means was a soldier in the war of 1812, and after his 
death his family obtained a forty-acre land warrant on his ac- 



396 OLD SETTLERS OF 

count. In the fall of 1829 the Means family moved to the head 
waters of the Little Vermilion River in Illinois. In the follow- 
ing spring they came to Cheney's Grove, where they arrived 
March 9, 1830, and located on the north side within one mile of 
the west end. They went to farming, and during the first 
spring broke forty acres and fenced it, and put up a log-cabin. 

During the winter of the deep snow the family pounded 
their corn with a wedge. This was attached to the lower end of 
a pole, which reached to the roof of the cabin and was fastened 
to a spring and was easily managed. The children pounded the 
corn and were kept at it for hours at a time. 

In the spring of 1832 Robert Means went to the Black Hawk 
war, but stayed only a few days. While he was gone Mrs. 
Means made the children plant corn between the hills of the 
preceding year without ploughing. Mr. Means came back be- 
fore planting time was over, and put in his entire corn crop in 
the same way and afterwards ploughed between the rows. He 
raised an excellent crop. 

Robert Means died August 1, 1835, and James Means, then 
ten years of age, was the oldest boy, who could work, in a fam- 
ily of ten children. One feeble brother, two years older, died 
shortly afterwards. The following are the children of Robert 
Means' family : 

Mrs. America P. Ball, widow of Snowden Ball, lives in the 
west end of Cheney's Grove. 

Mrs. Keturah McMackin, wife of James McMackin, lives one 
mile north of the old homestead. 

Mrs. Jemima Stansberry, wife of Andrew Stansberry, lives 
in Allen County, Kansas. 

John Means, twin brother of Jemima, died at the age of 
twelve years. 

James R. Means lives at Saybrook. 

David Dixon Means lives about a mile north of the old home- 
stead. 

Joseph Keever Means died at the siege of Vicksburg, two 
days before the surrender. 

Owen Amos Means lives three miles northeast of Saybrook. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Green, wife of John M. Green, a soldier 
under Sherman, lives on the east side of Arrowsmith township. 



m'lean county. 397 

Mrs. Margaret Vanscoyoc, wife of James Vanscoyoc, lives 
on the old homestead. 

James Means became the man of the family after his father's 
death, and they worked the whole of the farm without assist- 
ance. Mr. Means, sr., had been a skillful hand to stack wheat, 
and James learned to do it when only fourteen years of ago. 
The Means family made all their own clothing, both linen and 
woolen, and raised everything they wore. 

James Means was raised a moral young man and remembers 
with what horror he once saw one of his companions steal three 
nails. He was taught not to swear or use bad language ; but on 
one occasion he broke away from his early training. He was 
bitten by a hound belonging to David Ball, and the latter beat 
the hound and swore at it, and James got the idea that it was 
the swearing which effectually controlled the dog. Some time 
afterwards, while going to the house of Mr. Ball, the hounds 
again came out, and James thought they meant to kill him, and 
concluded that it was better to swear than to die ; so he cursed 
them with all his might, in every shape and form. Two girls, 
who belonged to the family, were not far distant and they heard 
the fracas and called off* the hounds. 

Mr. Means was an expert swimmer and remembers one little 
incident, which shows what men will do in case of necessity. 
John M. Stansberry, who had never learned to swim, was car- 
ried by the current of Sangamon Creek down into a deep hole. 
He hallooed as he went under, and James Means went to his 
assistance ; but Stansberry rose and swam out without help, 
though Means followed behind ready to assist him if necessary. 

James Means was obliged to do a man's work and attend to 
a man's business while he was still quite young. He once went 
to Eugene, near the Wabash, to mill, lost a horse, and was 
obliged to travel a hundred miles to recover it. 

Mr. Means has had his experience in going to market to 
Chicago. He went at one time with three yoke of oxen to his 
wagon, and those, who accompanied him with horse teams, were 
careful not to get far ahead, as they might need his oxen to pull 
them out of the sloughs. But on their return the unloaded 
horse teams went more rapidly, and as they carried the pro- 
visions, Mr. Means was left for twenty-five hours with nothing 



398 OLD SETTLERS OF 

to eat. He afterwards carried his own provisions and allowed 
the rest to go ahead. 

Mr. Means tells a good story of Ephraim Myers. He says 
V that on one Sunday Abraham Stansberry's house caught fire, 
a«d the alarm was given at the church. All who had teams 
brought them out, and the wagons were immediately filled with 
persons who wished to assist in putting out the fire. Among 
those who jumped into James Means' wagon were Ephraim 
Myers and a Methodist preacher. Means drove so fast over the 
stumps that the preacher was frightened and jumped out at the 
first opportunity; but Myers was cool, and gave directions quiet- 
ly, saying: " Go steady, Jimmy," " Put them through, Jimmy," 
and when they came to a smooth road, Myers remarked that 
hie would tell the preacher that he did not love his Jesus. 

Mr. Means has done some hunting and enjoyed the excite- 
ment of the chase, though it has sometimes been attended with 
danger. He once killed a horse while chasing a wolf. The 
horse stepped into a badger's hole and fell and broke its neck. 
The last wolf chase in which Mr. Means took part was very ex- 
citing. The wolf was a half-breed between the gray and the 
prairie varieties. Mr. Means broke down two horses in chasing 
it, but came up to it on the third horse and ran it into a den. 
But the den was drifted partly full of snow, and the wolf was 
pulled out by the tail and killed. 

Mr. Means is a man of steady nerve and sees clearly when 
matters appear exciting. The following incident shows his 
steady nerve, and also the remarkable coolness of one of his 
daughters. Once, while coming home from church, Mr. Means 
and two of his children were riding one horse, aud one of his 
daughters was riding another. The latter horse became fright- 
ened and ran for home, and Mr. Means feared that when it 
would come to the bars it would stop suddenly and throw his 
daughter off and perhaps kill her. He dropped the two children 
who were with him, and rode up near his daughter's frightened 
horse, but could not catch it or reach the child. The girl, un- 
der his directions, slipped down on the side of the saddle, hold- 
ing to the pommel, and when her father gave the word, loosened 
her hold and dropped to the ground with very little injury. 



m'lean county. 399 

Mr. Means married, May 7, 1844, Nancy M. G. Stansberry. 
He has had six children, of whom four are living and two are 
dead : 

Mary A. Means was married to John Pitts, and lives in 
Saybrook. 

Sarah M. Means was married to J. S. Barwick. 

Owen Amos Means died in 1865 with small-pox. 

Lee and John Henry Means live at home. 

James Edward Means died in infancy. 

Mr. Means is five feet and ten inches in height, weighs over 
two hundred pounds, is strong and heavy set, and has done a 
great deal of hard work. He has brown hair, sandy whiskers 
and brown eyes. He is a strictly honest man, has the best of 
judgment, seems to be prosperous, and is a first-class business 
man. He thinks a great deal of children, and remembers clearly 
the incidents of his own childhood. During the Black Hawk 
war his father once went up to the Mackinaw to learn the condi- 
tion of affairs, and Mrs. Means took her children to Robert 
Cunningham's mill for protection. There the little Means chil- 
dren began building a small fort, but soon gave up their cmild- 
ish arrangement, and Mrs. Means went back to her horn* 

Ephraim Scudder Myers. 

Ephraim S. Myers was born December 9, 1801, in Louis 
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Jacob Myers, and 
his mother's maiden name was Nancy Means. Jacob Myers was 
of German descent and Nancy Means was of Dutch and 
Irish stock. He lived in Kentucky, where he was born, 
for twenty-five years and then came to Illinois. In the fall of 
1826 he came to the Little Vermilion River, to that 
part of Edgar County which now forms the county of 
Vermilion. He and his cousin, James Dixon, came out to- 
gether with a horse, which they took turns in riding. Mr. 
Myers first chopped wood for ten dollars per mouth for the Salt 
Works at Danville, and afterwards went to breaking prairie and 
farming on the Little Vermilion River. He married, Decem- 
ber 21, 1828, Eliza Childers, and in April, 1830, he came to 
Cheney's Grove. 

Mr. Myers talks very eloquently sometimes about the deep 
snow. He says that he left his wagon standing in his yard and 



400 OLD SETTLERS OF 

when the deep snow fell no wagon was to be seen ; it was com-, 
pletely covered. A day or two before the heavy fall of snow 
Mr. Myers came from mill with enough corn meal to last his 
family through the winter, but he divided with his neighbbors, 
and before long was obliged to pound corn as the rest did. He 
killed deer when the snow first fell, but they soon became poor 
and not worth killing. A day or two after the heavy fall of 
snow he went out hunting and followed a deer for some distance, 
when it went to a place where a dozen or more deer had tramped 
a space around them about twenty feet across with the snow 
drifted on all sides in high walls. For once in his life he became 
excited and fired three or four times while they were charging 
around and jumping about, but missed them. At last they broke 
from their pen and he shot two of them when they had run a 
short distance away. During that terrible winter the deer 
came up, after night-fall, and ate hay with his cattle. 

Mr. Myers commenced hunting on the Vermilion River, 
when he first came to Illinois, and was very successful. He has 
had many adventures after game, and knows the country around 
for many miles. He has killed a deer or a wolf in every hollow 
and by every creek or spring. The largest deer he killed was 
up on the Mackinaw, and it was indeed a most enormous buck. 
It weighed two hundred and forty pounds dressed, and the skin 
weighed twenty-one pounds without the ears or lower part of 
the legs, and twelve pounds after it was dried. After Mr. My- 
ers had killed his game, it sometimes required ingenuity to 
bring it home. At one time, when he killed two deer, he put 
one on his horse's back and tied the other to its tail and made 
it bring them both in. Mr. Myers and Thomas Cheney were 
once down to a grove near Gibson, about nine miles east of Che- 
ney's Grove. They had with them a dog called Drummer. 
They started a deer and Drummer drove it away, and Cheney 
said that when the dog came back he would kill it. It soon re- 
turned and Cheney shot it. Mr. Myers said immediately that 
the grove should be called Drummer's Grove, and it has borne 
that name ever since. 

Mr. Myers has often hunted wolves. He used to set pens for 
them, and once caught two wolves at one time. He has often 
chased wolves with horses and dogs. He says that the wolves 



m'lean county. 401 

run a great deal faster than they formerly did, and that in early 
days any little cur could catch one. When the settlers chased 
them On horseback, it was very seldom that the wolves escaped; 
but now it is next to impossible to catch a wolf with dogs or 
horses. Mr. Myers formerly kept seven hounds to hunt wolves 
and gave them plenty of business. But, notwithstanding all of 
the precautions of the settlers and all of their hunting with dogs 
and horses, the wolves continued thick and every day some 
farmer's pigs or sheep would suffer. But in the year 1850 the 
people all turned out for a grand hunt, and went after the wolves 
in their dens, before the little wolf puppies were large enough 
to come out, and killed thirty in two days, and after that they 
were never so troublesome. 

Mr. Myers thinks that in all of his experience with wild ani- 
mals the badger is the worst to kill and hardest to fight. A 
badger is a bluish colored animal with whitish stripes. It is 
shaped much like a woodchuck, and is about the size of a rac- 
coon. Its teeth and nails are very long and sharp, the latter 
measuring nearly an inch. The animal is exceedingly strong, 
and really loves to fight. Mr. Myers says that while his dogs 
were once barking at a badger's hole it came out for fight, and 
it required five dogs to whip it. A badger will usually run 
when a strong force of dogs is after it, and when an attempt is 
made to dig it out of its hole it will sometimes dig down nearly 
as fast as it is dug after, and the dirt flies in all directions. Mr. 
Myers once dug out a hole in which he found two young badgers 
and a bull snake. This was in the spring of the year. He 
thinks they must have passed the winter together. 

During the Black Hawk war Mr. Myers tookhis wife down to 
the Little Vermilion River for safety and came back and lived for 
nearly two months alone. The people were badly frightened, but 
not badly enough to keep Abraham Stansberry and Mary Cheney 
from getting married. The farther away the people lived, the 
more they became frightened at the danger, which they could 
not understand, or about which they could not obtain reliable 
information. Some soldiers who came up from Paris, in Edgar 
County, about seventy-five miles south of Cheney's Grove, said 
that the people there were too much frightened to raise a wed- 
ding. 

26 



402 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The old settlers tell very few snake stories, but Mr. Myers 
tells one which may be relied upon. In 1871, in harvest time, 
his sons killed thirty-two rattlesnakes in a meadow within one 
hour. 

Mr. Myers' first wife died, and he married Mrs. Louisa Ann 
Stansberry, a widow, August 14, 1848. The following are the 
children and members of Mr. Myers' family : 

Nancy Myers was born September 16, 1829, and died August, 
2, 1840. 

Jacob Myers was born January 12, 1832. He enlisted during 
the rebellion in the 116th Illinois Volunteers, and died of sick- 
ness on his way home from Vicksburg in May, 1863. 

Thomas Myers was born January 11, 1834. He was a soldier 
in the army under Colonel McCullough. He was at the battle of 
Shiloh. He afterwards became sick and was sent back to Quin- 
cy, Illinois. He lives about five miles east of his father's. 

John Myers was born April 1, 1836. He was a soldier in 
the 116th Illinois Volunteers. He was at Vicksburg and Ar- 
kansas Post, but was sick during a part of his term of service. 
He lives at his father's home. 

Robert Myers was born April 27, 1838. He was in the 116th 
Illinois Volunteers, and died of sickness at Vicksburg. 

Fielden Myers was born April 25, 1840. He volunteered to 
go into the army, but was taken sick and never mustered in. He 
lives at home with his father. 

Elizabeth Myers was born September 17, 1842. She was 
married to Henry Lowry, and lives at Gibson, Ford County, 
Illinois. 

One child, Henry Myers, died in infancy. 

Andrew H. Stansberry, a son of Mrs. Louisa Ann Myers by 
her first marriage, was born February 15, 1842, was a soldier in 
the 70th Illinois Volunteers, under Colonel Reeves. He lives 
in Howard County Kansas. 

Daniel Ham, a boy who lived with Mr. Myers, and was for a 
while a member of his family, enlisted in the 4th Illinois Cav- 
alry. Mr. Myers wishes the boy's name put in this record to 
show how many went from his house into the army. 

Margaret Myers was born March 15, 1850, was married to 
Oliver Roe, and lives a mile and a half south of her father's. 



m'lean county. 403 

The following live at home : 

Sarah, born November 28, 1851. 

Clay, born August 30, 1855. 

James, born December 26, 1858. 

Mr. Myers has sixteen grandchildren and thirteen are boys. 

Ephraim S. Myers is about five feet and eleven inches in 
height and appears rugged and tough. He has a sanguine com- 
plexion, blue eyes and perfectly white hair and whiskers. He 
is a man of very independent character and great courage. He 
takes his own course, and, if people do not like it, they can go 
their own way. His favorite expression is that he can " hoe his 
own row," and he has done so very successfully, although it 
seemed a rough one sometimes. He does not ask unnecessary 
favors. He has a great dea,l of humor about him sometimes, 
and loves a good joke as well as any oM settler. 

William Biggs. 

William Riggs was born September 7, 1803, in Washington 
County, Maryland. His father's name was Samuel Riggs, and 
his mother's maiden name was Priscilla Marshall. Both were of 
Etiglish descent. Samuel Riggs was a plain farmer and a worthy 
man. When William was only one year old the Riggs family 
came to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where they remained about 
three years and then went to Bluebank Creek, Fleming County, 
same State. There he bought land and was obliged to sacrifice 
his stock to do so, but after five years he had the misfortune to 
lose his land, as he was obliged to pay a security debt. 

In 1824 William Riggs made a trip to South Carolina with a 
drove of hogs, which he sold there. He was delayed there for 
some time, as the weather continued warm in December, and he 
could not sell his pork until the season grew cooler. While he 
was delayed he saw something of slavery, and it was far from 
pleasant. The cotton planters there had usually from one to 
three hundred negroes on a farm. The planter with whom they 
stayed, Mr. Hyder Davy, had on his plantation a square of ten 
acres, in the center of which was his house, a little higher than 
the remainder. Around this square and facing inwards were 
the negro quarters. One evening Mr. Davy told Mr. Riggs and 
the drovers, that he would show them a sight, and he blew a 



404 OLD SETTLERS OF 

little bone whistle, giving various signals, and immediately about 
one hundred little colored children, between the ages of three 
and six years, as naked as the day they were born, came out of 
their quarters into the square and began dancing and capering 
about. After they had danced and capered for half an hour, 
Mr. Davy gave another signal, and they ran for their quarters 
as fast as squirrels. The field-hands were treated by the over- 
seers in the most brutal manner. The former were allowed one 
peck of meal to eat per week and absolutely nothing else. Every 
Saturday night the field-hands were obliged to deliver up their 
shoes, which were locked up carefully until Monday morning. 
At that time the negroes came and received their shoes and 
their weekly ration of meal and were set at work. The shoes 
were taken from them on Saturday to prevent them from run- 
ning about, for, as the country was flinty, they would cut their 
feet if they walked without shoes. The field-hands were re- 
quired to pick a certain quantity of cotton per day, and in the 
evening their pickings were separately weighed, and whoever 
failed to produce the required amount was whipped. A woman 
was whipped by being thrown on her face and having the lashes 
applied to her bare back. When a man was whipped he was 
made to grasp a post and put his wrists through an iron ring, 
which was made to spring down on them and hold them fast. 
His shirt was then drawn over his head and the lashes were ap- 
plied to his bare back. While the hands were in the field, the 
overseer was always on horseback with his cat-o'-nine-tails, and 
some one was whipped every day. The cotton-field was picked 
over three times. At the first two pickings the pods would split 
open and the cotton hang out and be easily picked, but the third 
time the pods would split only partially open and the cotton was 
then difficult to gather. The negroes would often come in from 
the field with their thumbs and fingers bleeding and torn by the 
cotton-pods. The nursing infants belonging to the women, who 
worked in the field, were placed in charge of a negress too old 
to work. At nine o'clock every day she placed these infants in 
a mule cart in which was a bed of straw and blankets, and took 
them to their mothers in the field to be nursed. This was re- 
peated at twelve o'clock and again at three o'clock in the after- 
noon. The hands never left the field until they stopped work 
at night. Such was slavery. 



m'lean county. 405 

When Mr. Kiggs sold his pork he came back to Kentucky on 
foot. He walked in fair weather one hundred miles in three 
days, but he was somewhat delayed by high water and required 
fifteen days for his journey. 

Mr. Riggs married, December 28, 1826, Nancy Pitts, and 
rented a small place for four years. In the fall of 1830 he 
moved to Illinois with his brother-in-law, Henry Pitts. In De- 
cember of that year the heavy snow began falling. On the day 
that the heavy snow fell, Henry Pitts was driving a lot of pigs 
to Eugene, Indiana, on the Wabash, and was caught in the 
storm. Mr. Riggs went with a horse to assist him, and they 
took their pigs through. On their return they walked with their 
horse through the snow, which was up to their thighs. First 
one would lead the horse and break the way, while the other 
would -whip the animal from behind. A crust was beginning to 
form on the snow and traveling was exceedingly hard. On the 
last day of their journey, they came from Newcom's Ford to 
Cheney's Grove, a distance of fifteen miles, and took turns in 
leading the horse. They shaped their course by the wind, which 
blew over the prairie very cold. When they came near Cheney's 
Grove they found that they had missed the course by two miles, 
and they changed their direction and tried again. After going 
about two miles Pitts stopped and wanted to rest and said he 
would feel better if he could sleep. Mr. Riggs then whipped 
him with the hickory gad until he was ready to fight, and at last 
they started ahead with the horse and arrived safe. Mr. Riggs 
thinks that if Pitts had been left to sleep he would have frozen 
to death in twenty minutes. Mr. Riggs' feet were badly frozen 
and the toe-nails and thick skin on the heels came off. The toes 
and heels were frozen so stiff that they thumped on the floor 
like potatoes. Mr. Pitts was frozen in the same way. One of 
Mr. Riggs' ears was also frozen. He was unable to do much 
work for some time, but could pound meal, as all were obliged 
to do during that desperate winter. He made for himself a pair 
of moccasins of deer hides, and turned the hair inward and by 
bundling up his feet he could get out and feed his stock. On 
the tenth of the following March he went to Blooming Grove 
on horseback, and on his return carried a spinning-wheel and 
led his horse, which carried two and a half bushels of meal ; but 



406 OLD SETTLERS OF 

the animal was obliged to carry Mr. Riggs and the meal, spin- 
ning-wheel and all across the Kickapoo. The slush from the 
melting of the deep snow was then from ankle deep to three 
feet. 

During the winter of the deep snow some of the settlers 
gathered the deer together in parks and fed them. Mr. Jona- 
than Cheney collected about fifteen deer in a park and kept 
them six or seven years, when a high wind blew down a part of 
the fence and they escaped. 

During the spring of 1832, while the Black Hawk war was 
carried on, the women collected at the house of the widow Ball 
while the men stood guard. 

In the fall of 1837 the Riggs family made a visit to Ken- 
tucky, traveling on horseback. They traveled four hundred 
miles there and four hundred miles to return. Mrs. Riggs car- 
ried her one-year old child in her arms during the whole jour- 
ney. She was a fine horse-woman, having been raised on the 
Kentucky hills where it required ingenuity to manage an animal 
and stick to it. They traveled on an average thirty-five miles 
per day. 

Mr. and Mrs. Riggs have raised six children, four sons and 
two daughters, and have seen them all grow up and become set- 
tled in life. They have all been converted and -made members 
of the Methodist Church. They are : 

George "W. Riggs, who was born December 11, 1827. He 
now lives one mile north of his father's homestead. 

Henry M. Riggs was born September 6, 1829. He was a 
soldier in the Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, and on becom- 
ing a veteran was made a captain in the United States Colored 
Infantry. He was at Pea Ridge, the siege of Vicksburg, and in 
many other battles. He lives in Bloomington. 

Priscilla M. Riggs was born August 10, 1831, was married to 
J. D. Lewis, and lives about three-quarters of a mile from her 
father's. 

William H. Riggs was born February 13, 1834. He has had 
a wide-awake life, has been to California and seen something of 
the world. He is now president of the Saybrook Bank, owned 
by Rigg 8 an d Brother. 



m'lean county. 407 

Mary Jane Riggs was born September 28, 1835, was mar- 
ried to Moses T. Hall and lives in Saybrook. 

Samuel R. Riggs was born February 13, 1838, was a soldier 
in the One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois Infantry, was at 
Vicksburg and Atlanta, and in many other engagements. He 
was severely wounded at the siege of Atlanta while relieving a 
picket guard. He was then commanding a company. He 
is now cashier of the Saybrook Bank owned by Riggs and 
Brother. • 

Mr. William Riggs is live feet and eleven inches in height, 
has gray hair and beard, has a Roman nose and bright, expres- 
sive, humorous eyes. He is a man of large mincf and sound 
judgment, and is very conscientious. He is a man of clear ideas 
and talks clearly and to the point with very little effort. He is 
as modest as he is worthy. He seems to be in good health and 
circumstances, and enjoys a happy old age. Mrs. Riggs still 
lives, happy and contented, and it will not be long before she 
and her husband can celebrate their golden wedding. 

Snowden Ball. 

Snowden Ball was born August 4, 1814, in Louis County, 
Kentucky. His father's name was Richard C. Ball, and his 
mother's maiden name was Catherine Cleary. Snowden Ball 
lived in Louis County, Kentucky, where he was raised, for sev- 
enteen years. There he went to school and received his limited 
education. "When he was seventeen years of age he came to 
Cheney's Grove and went to farming, as all the early settlers 
did. He was married October 29, 1835, to Miss America Pente- 
grass Means, daughter of Robert and Sarah Means, of Cheney's 
Grove. Their domestic life was remarkably happy. His con- 
stitution was never very rugged, but he usually enjoyed good 
health, with the exception of a sickness occasioned by an acci- 
dent, which happened to his knee. He died of consumption 
March 1, 1873. He left a family of eight children, all of whom 
are living. They are : 

Sarah S. Coile, wife of John Coile, born August 13, 1836, 
lives in Howard County, Kansas. 

Catherine H. Riggs, born August 23, 1838, wife of William 
H. Riggs, lives at Saybrook. 



408 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Keturah E. McKenney, born March 27, 1842, wife of William 
H. McKenney, lives a quarter of a mile north of her mother's. 

Richard C. Ball, born April 9, 1844, lives in Howard Coun- 
ty, Kansas. 

Mary Elizabeth Palmer, born April 2, 1846, wife of Charles 
Palmer, lives one-half a mile south of her mother's. 

John H. Ball, born August 7, 1851, Rhoda Ann Ball, born 
June 8, 1853, and Frank Baker Ball, born November 19, 1860, 
live at home. 

Snowden Ball was about five feet and eleven inches in height 
and slenderly built. His hair and whiskers at the time of his 
death were nearly gray. His eyes were dark brown. He was 
a very resolute man, but cautious in his dealings and temperate 
in his habits. He thought much of his family, and worked 
hard for them. 

Hilleary Ball. 

Hilleary Ball was born March 8,1817, in Louis County, Ken- 
tucky. His father's name was Richard C. Ball, and his mother's 
maiden name was Catherine Cleary. He does not know the de- 
scent of his parents, but the name would indicate an English 
ancestry. The father of Hilleary Ball died when the latter was 
only eight months old. Hilleary Ball lived in Louis County, 
Kentucky, where he was born, for thirteen or fourteen years. 
There he went to school and received some little education to 
prepare him for the work of life. In the fall of 1831, he came 
with his uncle Joseph Cleary Ball to Cheney's Grove, where he 
arrived November 10. The journey was very pleasant, requir- 
ing one month, which, however, included some delay in visiting 
friends on the way. Previous to their arrival Henry Ball had 
made arrangements for building a cabin, but when they came 
they found the work scarcely commenced. But all parties im- 
mediately began work, and the log cabin went up speedily. The 
puncheon floor was made of green wood, which froze every 
night, and the old carpet or quilt which was laid on it, was 
frozen fast. The family went to farming on their arrival, and 
experienced the usual vicissitudes of a pioneer life. Hilleary 
Ball went to school for a while at Cheney's Grove, and remem- 
bers one curious incident of his school days. The settlers at 



m'lean county. 409 

Cheney's Grove turned out to hunt two wolves, one a black 
wolf and the other a gray. After being chased all over the 
timber, the black wolf was caught and killed near the school 
house. Hilleary Ball saw it coming with the hunters in full 
chase, and spoke out quickly, and came near getting punished 
for his excitement. But the school was in such an uproar that 
the master let out the scholars, and they saw the wolf killed and 
the hide raffled oft' among the hunters. 

Mr. Ball never became much of a sportsman, though he 
often chased wolves and killed them with a stirrup. He some- 
times poisoned them with strichnine, and sometimes, when one 
of his domestic animals happened to die he would set it out as 
a bait for wolves and shoot them when they came near. Mr. 
Ball has had the usual contests with the fires which came sweep- 
ing over the prairie, and at one time had his farm burned up, 
with the exception of the house and barn. 

Mr. Ball married in November, 1838, Calista Hildreth, who 
was born in New York and came to McLean County at an early 
day. He has had six children, three boys and three girls, five 
of whom are living. They are : 

William Henry Ball, who lives in Cheney's Grove township, 
about three miles northeast of his father's, in Section No. 10. 

Elizabeth Theodosia Ball was married to William Evans, 
and lives near her brother William Henry. 

Julia Ann Ball was married to Samuel Gallagher, jr., and 
lives in Saybrook. 

Amos Ball lives in the northwest part of Champaign 
County. 

Alfred Ball died when very young. 
Harriet Ball, usually called Hattie, is the baby, or pet, and 
lives at home. 

Mr. Ball is about five feet and ten inches in height, and is 
what would be called a good-looking man. His hair and whiskers 
are beginning to turn a little gray. He has a well shaped head 
and eyes that are expressive of fun and good humor. He is 
sometimes a little eccentric in his manner, but is a man of good 
feeling. He takes care of his property, and is thrifty and pros- 
perous. When he was asked to give some information of his 
early life he was out attending to his property, but he sat down 



410 OLD SETTLERS OF 

under the shade of a tree and talked easily, cleverly and humor- 
ously. He is a kind and accommodating neighbor and a pleas- 
ant gentleman. 

William Kendrick Stansberry. 

William Kendrick Stansberry was born August 29, 1820, in 
Washington County, East Tennessee. His father's name was 
Edward Stansberry and his mother's was Polly Ann Graham. 
Edward Stansberry and his wife were both almost entirely of 
English descent. Mr. W. K. Stansberry once saw his great 
grandmother Graham, who lived to reach the advanced age of 
one hundred and ten years. Edward Stansberry was born near 
the close of the eighteenth century. He had eleven brothers 
and four sisters, enough to keep him company in his youth. He 
moved to Tennessee and there was married, and in Washington 
County his son William K. was born. In 1833 Edward Stans- 
berry moved with his family to Cheney's Grove, where he re- 
mained until the time of his death, which occurred in 1861. 
The Stansberry family was the fifth to come to the grove. 

The journey to Cheney's Grove was long and tedious, requir- 
ing six weeks to accomplish it. They were one week on the 
Cumberland Mountains, and while there, lived on corn-bread 
and pumpkins. They arrived at Cheney's Grove on the last day 
of October, and when they came, the neighbors all turned out 
and helped them build a cabin, which they succeeded in finish- 
ing within three days. It was made of logs, of course, with a 
puncheon floor. They made their bedsteads by inserting poles, 
in auger holes bored in the wall. The bedstead had only one 
leg out in the room. They made a table by splitting two broad 
puncheons and putting legs to them. They had stools made of 
little puncheons, and during the following year they indulged in 
the luxury of a loft made of Linn bark. 

During the fall after they came to Cheney's Grove, Edward 
Stansberry went with a party of men after wild hogs, and they 
killed twenty-five or thirty, and Mr. Stansberry's share of the 
pork amounted to five or six hundred pounds. They went to 
Perrysville, Indiana, for their grinding. In 1834 the family 
suffered severely ; they all had the ague except Kendrick, and 



m'lean county. 411 

were at one time obliged to go eight weeks without corn-meal, 
Except what they could grate for themselves. 

When William Kendrick Stansberry became sixteen years 
of age, he was a great hunter, and from that time until the age 
of twenty-five he scarcely ever killed less than fifty deer per 
annum, and great numbers of turkeys. He killed one turkey 
which weighed twenty-five pounds dressed. He once shot a doe 
and knocked both eyes out, but when he took hold of her she 
nearly kicked the clothes off of him. On the day that Polk Was 
elected president he went to see the voting, and on the way 
killed two bucks at one shot. At one time he shot a buck sixty 
or seventy yards distant through the heart, and it ran towards 
him and fell about ten feet away. He also hunted wolves and 
caught a great many in traps, on horseback and by running 
them down. 

Mr. Stansberry occasionally did a little trapping. In Feb- 
ruary, 1842, he caught in the Sangamon River, in a steel-trap, 
the largest otter he ever heard of. He discovered its track in 
the snow on the ice and found its habitation. It had cut a hole 
in the ice between the forks of a tree in the water. Mr. Stans- 
berry watched the hole and tried to shoot the otter, but it was 
too sharp for him. He at last went to Farmer City and bought 
a steel-trap, which he set by its hole and caught the animal by 
the fore-legs, and its tail was frozen fast in the ice. It measured 
nine feet from the tip of its tail to its nose. The skin was sold 
for ten dollars. v/ 

• Mr. Stansberry has some lively recollections of Ephraim 
•Myers, one of the greatest hunters in the West. Mr. Myers is 
a humorous man and has a great many queer traits of character. 
At one time Ephraim Myers, Edward Stansberry and Fielding 
Lloyd were taking up a bee tree and the little Stansberry boys * 
were looking on and eating honey. Old Ephraim thought the 
little chaps should have something to do, so he pretended to be 
afflicted with the colic and made them rub him down. If they 
stopped rubbing for a moment he would groan and make them 
work again. 

W. K. Stansberry has many recollections of old times and 
the fashions of early days. He particularly remembers the 
Methodist preacher, who could be recognised as far as seen, by 



412 OLD SETTLERS OF 

his horse and saddle-bags. The preacher's salary was a hundred 
dollars a year. The one, who had Cheney's Grove in his circuit,, 
traveled from Big Grove (Champaign) to Middletown, (now 
called Mahomet,) then to Cheney's Grove, then to Indian Grove 
(near Fairbury), then to Mackinaw timber (where Lexington 
now is), then to Blooming Grove, Randolph's Grove and Hur- 
ley's Grove (where Farmer City now is), in succession, and 
finally back to Big Grove the starting point. It required four 
weeks to make the round trip. He wore a white cravat and a 
plain, round-breasted, jeans coat. But afterwards the fashion 
changed, and he wore his coat straight-breasted. No person 
was allowed in the meeting-house, who wore ornaments of any 
kind. Mr. Stansberry was once careless enough to wear a shirt 
which had the pleats on the bosom running crosswise instead of 
up and down, and he was not allowed to enter the meeting-house 
or attend divine service at all. The meeting at Old Town tim- 
ber was held in an old barn, which is standing yet. In early 
days people yoked up their oxen to go to church, and the smart 
young men took their sweethearts on horseback behind them. 
Mr. Stansberry sometimes went as far as Farmer City, a distance 
of eighteen miles, to take his lady to church. After church he 
would go back, stay all the night with the family and return 
home the next day. He has frequently seen half a dozen young 
men riding to church with their sweethearts on behind them and 
has often seen a lady riding on horseback to church and her 
husband walking before. 

Mr. Stansberry has had the experience peculiar to the early 
settlers; he has driven pigs to Chicago and sold them for $1.25 
per hundred weight, has chopped wood for twenty-five cents per 
day, has harvested for fifty cents and hauled wheat to Chicago 
for thirty cents per bushel. 

Mr. Stansberry's hunting days came to an end at the age of 
twenty-five, when he was married. This important event oc- 
curred January 8, 1846. His bride was Miss Sarah Jane Yazel. 
He has had five children, all of whom are living. They are : 

Mrs. Harriet Emeline Hyre, wife of Jonathan Hyre, who 
lives in Saybrook. 

Mrs. Olive Jane Simmons, wife of D. Haldeman Simmons, 
lives in Saybrook. 



m'lean county. 413 

Edward Stansberry lives at home. 

Mrs. Cora Bell Smith, wife of Clinton Smith, lives in Say- 
brook. 

Milton Stansberry lives at home. 

After Mr. W. K. Stansberry was married he stopped his 
hunting, except occasionally for bee-trees. Year before last he 
found thirty bee-trees from.which he took three hundred pounds 
of honey. Last year he found twenty-one bee-trees. He has in 
the house honey which is three years old. He is about five feet 
and six inches in height, is heavy set, and weighs one hundred 
and eighty pounds. He is a good-natured man and would seem 
to be on good terms with all of his neighbors. He has dark 
eyes and heavy black hair, which has hardly yet begun to show 
the effects of time. He is somewhat stout in appearance, has a 
clear and rather heavy voice and a heavy, black moustache, and 
would be called a good-looking man if he would dress himself 
up. He is now the postmaster at Saybrook. He has been a 
very temperate man and has never drank whisky. He says 
that if he had his life to live over he would be a preacher ! 

Otha Owen. 

Otha Owen was born October 5, 1823, in Mechanicsburg, 
Champaign County, Ohio. His father's name was Uriah Owen, 
and his mother's maiden name was Kesiah Jaco. His father 
was partly of Welch descent and was born in Virginia. He was 
a soldier in the war of 1812. He died in 1832 or '33, and his 
wife followed him two years afterwards. 

Otha Owen lived in Champaign County until he was ten 
years of age, when he was sent to Green County to live with his 
uncle Elias Owen. He came with his uncle Elias to Cheney's 
Grove, where he arrived September 6, 1834. The journey was 
pleasant and uneventful. They immediately went to farming. 
Otha Owen was obliged to work hard, but found some time for 
school, though not as much as he would have liked. He was 
often sent with the grist to mill in his younger days, and some- 
times made the grand journey to Chicago, camping out at night. 
He speaks very warmly of the manners and customs of early 
days, when everybody was acquainted with everybody, and peo- 
ple made it their duty to visit the sick and see that they all 
received attention. 



414 OLD SETTLERS OF 

During the greater part of the years 1844 and '45, Mr. Owen 
lived in Sangamon County, where he worked for eight and one- 
third dollars per month. 

Otha Owen married, November 20, ' 1845, in Sangamon 
County, Susannah Cline, and came immediately to Cheney's 
Grove. It was then bitterly cold weather, and their journey 
was a hard one. Mr. Owen says it was the coldest weather he 
ever experienced, and has since often wondered why he did not 
freeze to death. The chickens fell from their roosts and died 
of cold. It did not thaw for nearly three weeks. During that 
winter Mr. Owen bought his meat for live dollars per hundred; but 
during the following year he had pork for sale and received for 
it only one dollar or a dollar and a quarter per hundred. The 
pigs, which the farmers raised, were little long-nosed fellows 
that could put their snouts through a fence and eat up a potato 
hill. 

Mr. Owen has had his experience with fires on the prairie, 
and has had some fencing burned by them. He says the worst 
prairie fire he ever saw was on the farm of a certain Mr. Went- 
worth, who lived within eighteen miles of Chicago. Six teams, 
including Mr. Owen's, were passing at the time, and the team- 
sters took off their horses, put them in the barn and began 
fighting fire. They succeeded in saving the house and barn, but 
the remainder of the farm was simply a waste of cinders. 

Mr. Owen never hunted much, but has chased wolves, which 
were the farmer's greatest pest. He chased them on horseback 
and says that there was a great deal of difference in their speed, 
so much so that he could tell at almost the first jump whether 
or not he could catch the wolf he was after. If it was a fast 
wolf it would run slowly at first and look over its shoulder in 
an impudent, suspicious way, and when pressed more closely 
would show speed, but would never take the trouble to do more 
than keep out of the hunter's way. But if the wolf was a slow 
one it seemed to know that it must do its best and get down to 
its greatest speed immediately. When Mr. Owen saw a wolf of 
this kind he always felt sure of catching it in a short race. He 
says the slow wolves have all been caught off, and those which 
are now left can scarcely be caught at all. The breed has been 
improved and made a faster running breed by a process of 



m'lean county. 415 

" natural selection." ; A wolf was recently started in Belleflower 
township and chased ten miles before being caught. Such a 
chase never was formerly made after a prairie wolf. Occasion- 
ally the early settlers chased the timber wolves more than ten 
miles, but never the prairie wolves. The early settlers would 
sometimes run their horses to death or break their wind, or run 
into an ant-hill or a badger's hole in chasing the wolves, and 
it was not always a safe business. Mr. Elias Owen had a severe 
fall by his horse running into a hole, and Mr. James R. Means 
killed a horse on one of these fast chases. 

Mr. Owen has had eleven children, and of these eight are 
living. 

Otha Owen is five feet and five inches in height, has a san- 
guine complexion, but is somewhat slim in build. He is like the 
most of the old settlers, cordial and friendly, and his manner is 
warm and pleasant and honest. His hair is nearly gray and his 
whiskers likewise. He has a good, kind expression, and will be 
remembered as one of the best of the old settlers. 

Joseph Newcom. 

Joseph Newcom was born August 25, 1814, in Clark County, 
Ohio. His father, whose name was Ethan Newcom, was a Jer- 
sey Yankee, and his grandfather, whose name was also Ethan 
Newcom, was a Jersey Yankee and a Revolutionary- soldier. 
Ethan Newcom, jr., the father of Joseph, married a widow, Mrs. 
Mary Woods, whose maiden name was Maty Marsh, and she 
was a Jersey Yankee, too. 

Joseph Newcom says that nothing of importance occurred 
during the first fourteen years of his life, and thinks that chil- 
dren did not know as much and were not as smart as the chil- 
dren are at present with all the advantages that schools can now 
give. 

In the fall of 1828 the Newcom family came to Sangamon 
timber, Illinois, to what was afterwards called Newcom's Ford. 
There they arrived one evening tired and hungry, and the next 
niorninsr Ethan Newcom found a bee tree before breakfast. The 
family went on to Blooming Grove, but after staying there for 
two weeks, went back to Newcom's Ford, which took its name 
from them. During their first winter at the ford they hauled 



416 OLD SETTLERS OF 

corn from Blooming Grove, forty miles distant. Newcom's Ford 
was a stopping place for travelers, and the Newcom's kept a 
house of entertainment. Sometimes, in the fall of the year, 
twenty-five or thirty teams would stop there at once. The price 
of entertainment was eighteen and three-fourths cents per meal 
and fifty cents for keeping a man and horse over night. They 
went to Eugene, on the Big Vermilion River, near the Wabash, 
for their flour and groceries. But, notwithstanding some little 
inconveniences, the Newcoras lived well and happily. At one 
time Joseph Newcom went with his sister on horseback to Big 
Grove, fifteen miles east of the ford, to a wedding. While 
there the weather turned cold and everything was frozen up. 
On their return they found the sloughs all easy to cross, except 
one, which the horses refused to touch. It had frozen over and 
had fallen and the crust of ice on top was held up by the grass, 
and the horses refused to cross it. Joseph Newconi was obliged 
to go into the water up to the waist to break the ice while his 
sister followed on horseback. 

People often had great difficulty in crossing at Newcom's 
Ford, and were frequently obliged to swim the creek with their 
teams. A. man named Henry Pitts had a horse drowned in 
crossing the creek, as it did not swim well, but went to plunging 
when it struck the deep water. 

The hogs belonging to the settlers would run wild when 
turned loose for any length of time, aud were sometimes very 
dangerous. On one Sunday Ethan Newcom went out to hunt 
bees, when he saw a hog in the distance coming towards him. 
He thought he would let it come up to within a short distance 
of him and then frighten it, but when the hog approached it be- 
gan to bristle up its hair and walk sideways, and Mr. Newcom 
saw that he must "get out of that" very quickly. The timber 
was about fifty steps distant, and he broke for it on the keen 
run with the hog after him. He reached the timber in quick 
time and sprang up a tree, and the disappointed hog could do 
nothing but walk around and raise its bristles. Such was Ethan 
Newcom's attempt to frighten a wild hog ! 

"While the Newcoms lived at Newcom's Ford the flies were 
very bad on the horses and cattle. For about six weeks in the 
year the large green-head flies prevented all travel by day. 



m'lean county. 417 

Everybody was obliged to travel by night, and even then they 
were troubled with the flies at moonlight. The flies were so 
thick and so bad that they would kill a young horse if it were 
turned loose. They would drive it nearly crazy and suck its 
blood ; but now they are comparatively rare even in the worst 
part of fly time. The long prairie grass on which they used to 
breed has been eaten off and has become almost a rarity. Jo- 
seph Newcorn says he has many times been obliged to travel by 
night, and would bend forward and sleep with his arms around 
his horse's neck. 

During the winter of the deep snow Joseph Newcom was 
sent to Cheney's Grove to school. He boarded at the house of 
Benjamin Thomas, and went to school to Mary Cheney. He 
rode to school on a blind horse with two of Mr. Thomas' little 
girls, one on behind and one on before. He was obliged to 
break the road a great many times, but always succeeded in 
keeping it clear. On the last day of February, when the snow 
was about to melt, he walked home to Newcom's Ford on the 
crust. Had he delayed another day he could not have gone 
home for a month, as the melting of the deep snow kept every- 
thing swimming. A year or two afterwards Mr. Newcom went 
to school at Blooming Grove, to old Billy Hodge. 

The Newcoms were great bee hunters and found many trees. 
The bees were very different in their dispositions. Some would 
allow their honey to be taken very easily, and would make no 
trouble ; some would fight, but would be cowed by smoke, and 
some would fight and pay no attention to smoke. At one time 
Ethan Newcom and Joseph each found a bee tree, and as they 
were in the vicinity of other bee hunters, decided to cut the 
trees immediately, although the day was a warm one in Septem- 
ber. They cut Ethan Newcom's tree first, and when it fell the 
hollow burst open and the bees fought desperately all the time 
the honey was being taken out. Joseph Newcom was stung 
again and again. He was in his shirt sleeves, and wore shoes 
without stockings. As the day was warm the perspiration made 
the sleeves of his shirt cling to his arms, and the bees stung 
through it again and again. They lit on his legs and crawled 
up his trowsers and lit on his face and nearly stung him crazy. 
At one time he ran off, whipping bees with his hat, and acci- 
27 



418 OLD SETTLERS OF 

dentally threw it in some high grass, but kept on running and 
whipping at the bees. When he became free from them he 
hunted for his hat, but never found it, and was obliged to go 
bareheaded for two weeks. They took twelve gallons of honey 
from the bees and a great deal more was wasted, as the gum had 
split open in falling. The next tree they cut yielded about 
eight gallons of honey, and the bees fought harder than the 
first swarm. Joseph was obliged to cut it and take out the 
honey alone, as the flies were very bad, and his father had to 
attend to the oxen. He was sore for several weeks after this 
bee hunt. Honey was the most abundant article raised. Mr. 
Xewcom once took a thousand pounds of honey and sixty 
pounds of beeswax to Chicago in one load. He received six 
cents per pound for the honey and twenty-five cents per pound 
for the beeswax. 

In October, 1835, the Newcoms came to Cheney's Grove, to 
the north side, and settled where John Nevvcom now lives, and 
went to farming. They bought their place of Henry Pitts. 

Mr. Newcom was a great hunter after wolves and coons. 
During one fall he and his father killed twenty-five wolves and 
twenty-eight coons. Ethan Newcom killed the wolves, and Jo- 
seph and his dog, Ring, killed the coons. During the spring of 
the year, when Harrison was elected President, a snow came 
two feet deep and stayed on for eight days, and during that 
time everybod} T hunted for wolves. Every grove in the country 
was alive with hunters, but Cheney's Grove beat them all, for 
the hunters there killed sixty-eight wolves. 

The Newcoms were in the habit of making maple sugar, as 
that was the only sugar used. During one spring they made 
two thousand pounds of sugar and a barrel of syrup. They 
made eleven hundred pounds in seven days and nights with 
eight kettles, and could have made a third more if all the sap 
had been saved. The Cheneys made about fifteen hundred 
pounds. The sugar sold for ten cents per pound. 

Ethan Newcom had eleven children in all, and of these five 
lived to have families. They are : 

Mrs. Mary Vanscoyoc, wife of Periy Vanscoyoc. 

Joseph Newcom, whose sketch we are writing. 

Mrs. Rosanna Smith, wife of Jacob Smith, lives in Arrow- 
smith township. 



m'lean county. 419 

John Newcom lives at the old homestead. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Arbogast, wife of William Arbogast, is now 
dead. 

Joseph Newcom married, February 2, 1844, Eliza Jane De- 
vor. He has had eleven children, nine of whom are living. 
They are : 

Nicholas, born January 26, 1845. 

Mary Ann, born August 16, 1846. 

Nancy Jane, born March 22, 1848. 

Ethan Allen, born January 1, 1850. 

Joseph Aaron, born May 28, 1851. 

Isaac Luther, born May 8, 1853. 

Owen, born February 24, 1855. 

Mereposa, born August 14, 1856. 

America Catherine, born September 23, 1858. 

Jesse, born January 4, 1861. 

Sarah Elizabeth, born June 29, 1862. 

Isaac Luther and Owen are dead. The latter died in in- 
fancy. All who are living reside at home, except Nancy Jane, 
who is married to Richard Ball, and lives in Howard County, 
Kansas. 

Joseph Newcom is live feet and eleven inches in height, is 
rather slender in form and has bright, humorous eyes. He be- 
lieves in getting up early in the morning and going to work. 
He is honest himself, and will not deal with any one who is not 
also honest and truthful. At one time a person who was known 
to be a good workman and an industrious man, and had for- 
merly worked for Mr. Newcom, wished to come back again. 
But although no fault could be found with the young man's 
work, he was not permitted to come back, as Mr. Newcom 
would not allow anyone around his premises who could not 
be relied upon to tell the truth. 

Isaac Stansberry. 

Isaac Stansberry was born July 13, 1805, in Greene County, 
East Tennessee, within twelve miles of Greenville. His father's 
name was Ezekiel Stansberry, and his mother's name before her 
marriage was Esther Neil. His ancestors were of German 
and Welch descent. Ezekiel Stansberry died when Isaac 



420 OLD SETTLERS OF 

was about nine years of age. Isaac Stansberry remembers very 
clearly the war of 1812, as several of his elder brothers served 
in it and were at the battle of Horse Shoe, under Jackson. Be- 
fore this the family had moved to Washington County, and there 
Isaac lived until September 29, 1825, when he married Ruth 
Lacy. He then moved to Greene County, where he went to 
farming. In about the year 1832 Isaac Stansberry went on a 
flat-boat with a load of produce down the JNoulachuckee River 
into the Holston River and thence into the Tennessee and down 
over the Muscle Shoals at Florence. They sold out their load 
at Tuscumbia and returned home. He made several such trips 
and saw something of slavery there. At one time he saw forty 
mule teams abreast ploughing cotton. The teams were driven 
by negroes who were followed up by an overseer with a whip, 
which had a lash six feet in length. The whip was made for 
business, too, and not for ornament. The overseers sometimes 
combined generosity with brutality. An overseer once brought 
some negroes on board of a steamboat and gave them each a 
drink of whisky. Then, at a nod of his head, they ran off to 
work ; but one of them was a little slow about starting and the 
overseer shoved him overboard into the water. 

In 1836 Mr. Stansberry came to Cheney's Grove, McLean 
County, Illinois. He came with a party of about thirty-six 
persons. They had a pleasant journey, though rather a long one. 
Mr. Stansberry immediately went to farming on his brother 
Abraham's place. He found the times very hard and would 
have gone back to Tennessee immediately, but could not get 
away. He arrived late Saturday night, and on Sunday morning 
went to mill bright and early. The people at Cheney's Grove 
were very sociable and welcomed all new comers. Mrs. Stans- 
berry says they were all "big bugs" together. 

During the winter after his arrival Mr. Stansberry went to 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Thomas Cheney. They took with 
them a drove of pigs. They had no very dangerous adventure, 
except that once while camping out they became very cold and 
were afraid of freezing to death, and went six miles farther on 
to a house where they found shelter and a warm fire. On their 
return they had difficulty in crossing some of the streams, which 
were about to break up in the spring. The water along the 



m'lean county. 421 

shores of the Mazon was rising above the ice. They threw 
pieces of wood on the ice along the shore in order to make a 
bridge for the wagons to cross. At that early day Milwaukee 
was not half as large as Saybrook. The buildings were rough, 
"ornery" looking things and gave little promise of the present 
city. 

Mr. Stansberry has had ten children. They are : 

Sophia Jane Stansberry, who was born August 6, 1826. She 
married James R. Lewis, and lives less than half a mile from 
her father's house. 

Thomas A. Stansberry was born July 27, 1828, and lives in 
Saybrook. 

Ezekiel F. Stansberry was born May 22, 1830. He lives 
about three-quarters of a mile from the south side of Cheney's 
Grove with his aunt McMackin. 

John F. Stansberry was born January 28, 1832, and lives in 
Hancock County, Illinois. 

Jesse W. Stansberry was born January 24, 1834, and lives 
just east of his father's. 

Julia E. Stansberry was born February 13, 1836, was mar- 
ried to Simon Cavanaugh, and lives two miles east of her 
father's. 

Abram M. Stansberry, born June 15, 1838, died in infancy. 

Isaac N". Stansberry was born December 2, 1839, enlisted in 
the One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois Volunteers during the 
late war, and died of sickness at Milliken's Bend near Vicks- 
burg. 

Melissa C. Stansberry was born March 27, 1843, was married 
to I. J. Hardsock, and lives in Saybrook. 

Henry M. Stansberry was born June 7, 1846, and lives at the 
homestead with his father. 

Isaac Stansberry is about five feet and ten inches in height, 
has gray hair and dark eyes, is a kind-hearted, pleasant man and 
a gentleman. He seems to have succeeded pretty well in life, 
and lives about a mile and a half southwest of Cheney's Grove. 



422 OLD SETTLERS OF 



DALE TOWNSHIP. 

Robert Harrington Johnson. 

Robert H. Johnson was born November 11, 1796, in Virginia. 
His father was Francis Johnson, and his mother's name before 
her marriage was Nancy Harrington. Francis Johnson was born 
in Ireland, and brought to America when he was four years of 
age. Nancy Harrington was partly of Pennsylvania Dutch de- 
scent. When Robert Johnson was only four years of age he 
was taken to Jackson County, Tennessee, where he lived until 
he was twenty-six or seven years of age. There he followed 
farming and tanning leather. He married in August, 1814, 
Bathsheba Potter. In about the year 1822 or '23 he went to 
Overton County, Tennessee, where he lived until the year 1828, 
when he came to Illinois. He came on his journey by team and 
arrived at Blooming Grove on the first of December. He had 
no particular adventure except that his daughter Mathurza fell 
from a horse which she was riding, and broke her thighbone, 
and the party was delayed fifteen days in consequence. The 
party arrived at Blooming Grove in the evening of December 
1, when everyone for miles around was at church. As the party 
passed the church, a bell on one of the colts was heard by the 
congregation, and it was known that another family had arrived. 
The addition of a single family to the neighborhood was then a 
great event, and at the close of the meeting the entire congre- 
gation, which was not large, though it included everyone in the 
country for a great many miles around, came to see the Johnson 
family and give them a welcome. No one waited for an intro- 
duction, but each shook hands cordially and said : " How are 
you, Brother Johnson ?" and, " How are you, Sister Johnson ?" 

The family first moved to Three Mile Grove, now called 
Harley's Grove, into a log house fourteen feet square, with a few 
logs extending for a porch. This cabin was put up for the 
Johnson family by George Hinshaw some months before their 
arrival. It happened in the meantime that the Funks (Isaac 
and Absalom) had driven a lot of pigs to this grove to eat the 
mast, and the latter had taken possession of the unoccupied 
cabin. Pigs which have been running in the timber, become 



m'lean county. 423 

wild, and when excited or aroused are more dangerous than any- 
other wild animal. During the night after the Johnson family 
moved into their cabin, they heard their dog barking and fight- 
ing with the hogs. The cabin had no door to it. A hole had 
been cut out for entrance, and also another for a fire-place. In 
the latter a large fire was burning, and some green sticks were 
near by. Mr. Johnson jumped up and grasped a long, green 
stick and met the hogs, about seventy-five in number, in the 
door-way as they were attempting to come in. He fought them 
there for life, while Mrs. Johnson prevented them from coming 
in at the fire-place by throwing fire at them. Mr. Johnson 
fought until he was exhausted completely. He battered their 
heads ; he struck powerful blows, and at last knocked off the 
snout of one of the hogs, which ran squealing away to Funk's 
Grove, followed by the whole drove. But Mr. Johnson, fearing 
the return of the brutes, put his family into the wagon to pro- 
tect them. The next day Isaac, Absalom and Robert Funk came 
up to Harley's Grove to whip the band of villains, who, they 
thought, had been knocking out the eyes and breaking the 
snouts of their hogs; but when they learned what a fight Mr. 
Johnson had made to protect his family from being eaten up by 
the brutes, they left in a different humor. 

As the Johnson family was the first to settle in Harley's 
Grove, the wild animals were taken by surprise. A day or two 
after the hogs were driven off a black wolf came up close to the 
door. During that winter Mr. Johnson killed a great many 
deer within half a mile of the house. At one time he severely 
wounded a deer, which turned on him and knocked him down 
several times; but it was so badly hurt that he broke away and 
left it in a thicket within a few hundred feet of the house. He 
went in for ammunition, and told the children to stay inside and 
hold the door shut. But when he started for the thicket, the 
children disobeyed orders and ran out and climbed the fence, 
and jumped on the stumps to see the fun. The deer sprang up 
and ran towards the children, but the dog grabbed it by the ear 
and Mr. Johnson shot it through the neck and it fell within a 
few feet of the door. During the spring following, Mr. Johnson 
fenced forty-five acres of land and planted nearly all of it in 
corn. But he was unable to enter it immediately and soon after- 



424 OLD SETTLERS OF 

wards a man named Jack Hougham entered it away from him 
and gave him forty-five dollars for his improvement. It was a 
custom among the old settlers never to enter a man's claim away 
from him ; but Mr. Hougham had no such delicacy. He gave 
Mr. Johnson notice of his intention and went to the land office 
and took up the land. Mr. Johnson then settled on the south 
side of Twin Grove, improved a claim and entered the land, and 
lived there until 1837, when he was killed by an ox which he 
was attempting to yoke up to a wagon. This was on the twenty- 
first of February, 1837. He was a very industrious man, and 
made shoes and looms in the winter, and worked his land during 
the summer. He tanned leather for the whole country around. 

Mr. Johnson had ten children, two of whom were born in 
the West. They are : 

Nancy Johnson, who married Moses Wooden Brown, and 
lives at White Oak Grove in Woodford County. 

John S. W. Johnson lived at the head of the Mackinaw and 
died in 1865. 

Mathurza Johnson, now the wife of Jeremiah Rhodes, lives 
three miles from Bloomington, on the Leroy road. She furnished 
the items for this sketch, and seemed to have very clear ideas 
and a good recollection. 

Jacob H. Johnson lives between Brown's Grove and Twin 
Grove. 

Thomas P. Johnson lives near Osceola, Clark County, Iowa. 

Benjamin M. Johnson lives about a mile and a half west of 
Bloomington. 

Francis, Lewis S., and James B. Johnson, are dead. 

Mary Jane Elizabeth Johnson married John Fowler, and lives 
in Osage Mission, Kansas. 

Mr. Johnson was about six feet in height, was possessed of 
immense strength, but was very good-natured, kind-hearted and 
religious. He never wished to quarrel with anyone, was always 
on good terms with his neighbors, and was very honorable in all 
of his transactions. 

William Beeler, Sr. 

William Beeler was born September 26, 1796, in Fayette 
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Samuel Beeler and 



m'lean county. 425 

his mother's name before her marriage was Mary Graves. His 
father was descended from the Dutch of Virginia, but his 
mother probably came from English stock. The father of Sam- 
uel Beeler, who was the grandfather of William Beeler, was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war, and saw. some very hard ser- 
vice and severe campaigning. He sometimes laid on brush 
heaps at night to keep out of the water. Samuel Beeler moved 
to Kentucky at an early day, where he was often engaged in con- 
tests with the Indians. He was a great hunter, and very skillful 
in the use of the rifle. At one time, while the settlers were 
troubled by the Indians, Mr. Beeler went with three other men 
out hunting for buffalo and deer, which were both very plenty. 
Mr. Beeler killed a buffalo and afterwards a deer. Two other 
deer ran off, but came back unaccountably in fright, and were 
both killed by the hunter. But as Mr. Beeler was skinning one 
of the deer he learned what had frightened them back, for he 
heard a cracking in the brush and looking up saw a man com- 
ing; and a second glance showed him to be an Indian. Mr. 
Beeler sprang instantly for his gun and ran, and was pursued 
by six Indians who fired at him. He stubbed his toe and fell, 
and they set up a whoop, but he sprang to his feet and ran for- 
ward, and as he was remarkably fleet he distanced them all ex- 
cept one, which he turned upon and shot. He then had some 
difficulty in finding his camp, but arrived there at last, and 
found only one of his companions. The camp was moved into 
a sink-hole. The next morning the remainder of the party 
came in, and all returned home. The Indians killed several 
families, stole several horses and tried to get away with the 
plunder, but were pursued and killed, and the horses recap- 
tured. 

When William Beeler was ten years of age he went with his 
father's family to Butler County, Ohio, and there they lived 
while the war of 1812 was fought. Samuel Beeler was in this 
war, and was a colonel at the battle of Tippecanoe. 

William Beeler says that while he lived in Ohio the Indians 
were to the whites as a hundred to one. They were a kind of 
people who were much influenced by the pleasures of sense. 
They were always drunk, whenever they could find liquor. Mr. 
Beeler has seen a hundred drunken Indians with only two or 



426 OLD SETTLERS OF 

three sober ones to keep them quiet. He remembers one time 
particularly, when some friends came to see his father from 
Kentucky, they all made a visit to a camp of about a hundred 
Indians. The latter had with them a negro whom they had 
raised, and he was the only sober man among them. They 
were nearly all dead drunk, and the ground was covered with 
their stupid, insensible bodies. One Indian was sober enough 
to fight with his squaw, but the latter whipped the savage fine- 
ly. The Indian's feelings were much injured at this, so he 
poured a bucket of water on his head to make him a little sober, 
and again went to fighting the squaw, and succeeded in whip- 
ping her. 

When William Beeler became of age he went to Kentucky, 
and there married Mary Hall. He lived there a few years until 
the death of his wife, and then moved back to Ohio, where he 
lived until he came to Illinois. He married, October 14, 1824, 
Elizabeth Sheeley. He came to Illinois, to what is now Ale- 
Lean County, in the fall of 1830, and settled in the southern 
edge of Twin Grove, where he has remained ever since. 

Mr. Beeler suffered a great deal during the winter of the 
deep snow. When the first heavy fall of snow came, he found 
his pigs all huddled together in a pile to keep warm, but the 
snow had melted down around them, and Mr. Beeler found 
them wet and shivering. He made a lot of shavings from a 
Linn rail, and cut hazel brush, and in this his pigs made a bed 
and kept warm. 

During the Black Hawk war the settlers were all liable to 
take panics occasionally, and often collected together in houses 
for fear, but no disturbance was ever made by the Indians in 
this locality. 

Mr. Beeler has had six children, three of whom are living. 
They are: 

William Beeler, who lives about a mile and a half south of 
his father's, in Dale township. 

Mrs. Mary Stiger, wife of William Stiger, lives in Covel. 

Mrs. Harriet Rockwell, wife of Lorenzo Rockwell, lives on 
the south side of Twin Grove, within a few rods of her father's 
house. 

Mrs. Cynthiana Elizabeth Hinshaw, wife of J. U. Hinshaw, 
is now dead. 



m'lean county. 427 

Morgan Washington Beeler grew up to manhood, but is now 
dead. 

Mr. Beeler is rather less than the medium height, and 
though too old to work, is tough and hardy. He is a pleasant 
talking old gentleman, and is considered a patriarch at Twin 
Grove; for, while obtaining items for this work, every body- 
seemed anxious that a fine sketch should be written of " Uncle 
Billy Beeler." He has been very successful and leads an easy, 
comfortable life. 

William Beeler, Jr. 

William Beeler, jr. was born February 8, 1822, in Fayette 
County, Kentucky (probably). When he was only a year or 
two old his mother (whose maiden name was Mary Hall) died, 
and his father moved to Ohio, as stated in the foregoing sketch. 
His father married Elizabeth Sheeley, and in the fall of 1830 
the family came to Twin Grove, where they arrived October 14. 

During the winter of the deep snow Mr. Beeler, si\, fed three 
yoke of cattle, which he brought with him from Ohio, on the 
boughs of trees. The cattle became so accustomed to their fare 
that they would run after the sound of an ax in the timber 
while Mr. Beeler was cutting a tree for them, as eagerly as they 
ever hastened to a feed of corn. 

The Indians were not plenty when Mr. Beeler came to the 
country. He remembers some who came to his father's house, 
and were great traders. They were ready to swap at any time, 
and quick to see when they obtained the best end of the bargain. 
The settlers exercised their ingenuity in making clothing. The 
best clothing was made of buckskin, and a good pair of pants 
of this material lasted three years. The buckskin was tanned 
by soaking it in weak ley or lime-water and scraping it with a 
knife or sharp-cornered instrument. This took off the hair and 
the grain. The grain is a kind of coating next to the hair, and 
must be worked off or the skin can never be made soft. After 
being scraped, the skin is soaked in the brain of a deer and 
washed in soapsuds, and may be colored by smoke. 

The early settlers were very humorous, and loved practical 
jokes. One favorite joke was what was called "sniping." It 
was played by persuading some one that snipes could be driven 



428 OLD SETTLERS OF 

into a sack, and the victim was induced to hold the sack by the 
end of a log during a dark night, and would be left there to find 
out the sell at his leisure. It would hardly seem possible that any- 
one could be hoaxed by such a simple and absurd performance, 
but some of the smartest and sharpest of men have been "taken 
in" by that very thing. Mr. Beeler tells of the manner in which 
a party of young men at a corn husking at Mr. Beeler, sr's, 
"sniped" a young stranger who had been working for Osborn 
Barnard. While the boys were husking corn they talked of 
catching snipe, and had great disputes as to the number that 
had been caught on various occasions. The stranger was in 
the mean time growing eager. At supper time they discussed 
the matter again and proposed to go sniping. They counted 
those who were willing to go, leaving out the stranger, and said 
they had not enough men. But one said : "Why, here's the 
stranger ; he can go." "No," said another, "he doesn't under- 
stand it." "Well," said the first speaker, "if he can't do any- 
thing else, he can hold the sack !" "Boys," said old Mr. Beeler, 
"I wish you would catch a few snipe, for I feel sick, and I would 
like some first rate." The stranger was not only willing, but 
eager, and said very modestly, that he would do whatever they 
thought best, as he did not understand "sniping." After dark 
they placed the stranger by a log with the caution that the 
snipes made a low whistle, and when he heard it he must an- 
swer promptly. They left him standing for an hour or more, 
when William Beeler and a young man named Dudley Dore 
went out near the log and gave a low whistle, which the stranger 
promptly answered. Beeler and Dore laughed so heartily that 
they could not pucker. up their lips for another whistle. They 
went back to the house and a young man named William Stiger 
was sent out to bring the stranger in ; but the stranger declared 
that he heard the snipes whistle, and he wanted to stay and 
catch them. It required all of Stiger's ingenuity to bring him 
to the house. When they arrived the party was gone. After 
waiting some time, the boys came in one after another, telling 
what a lot of snipes they had, and wanted to know why the 
stranger had not remained at his post. The poor fellow laid the 
blame on William Stiger as best he could. He told the Barnards 



m'lean county. 429 

a few days afterwards of what a lot of snipe he might have 
caught if William Stiger had not interfered. 

The settlers hunted and trapped a great deal. A trap set 
for turkeys was the most absurd thing imaginable. It was sim- 
ply a little pen with a hole at the bottom large enough for a 
turkey to walk in. Corn was sprinkled in a line leading through 
the hole, and a turkey picking up the corn walked through the 
hole. They would starve to death before finding their way out. 

One of the most cunning of animals is the wild cat. The 
settlers around Twin Grove once hunted a wild cat, which had 
stolen a piece of tallow. They had four inches of snow in which 
to track it, and they followed it all day long. The cunning animal 
would go back on its track and cross it in every way in order to 
lead the hunters astray, and sometimes it would walk a log and 
spring off a long distance. Towards nightfall the hunters came 
upon two tracks. Old William Beeler and his dog followed one 
and the remainder followed the other. Beeler and his dog soon 
treed the cat, and the remainder of the party came to the scene 
of action and commenced a general firing. The cat jumped 
around in a tree top, snapping and breaking off" limbs. At 
last it was wounded and jumped down and the dogs killed it, 
after a long and savage fight. The cat threw itself on its back 
and fought fearfully, and Mr. Beeler thinks the dogs would 
never have killed it h<ad it not been wounded. 

William Beeler, jr., married, July 5, 1844, Catherine Lay ton. 
He says he cradled oats in the forenoon and was married in the 
afternoon. Some years before this, when young Beeler and a 
friend wished to go out on a squirrel hunt, old Mr. Layton 
wished William to help bind oats, and, when William refused, 
the old gentleman told William that the latter could never 
have one of Mr. Layton's daughters unless he gave up the squir- 
rel hunt. But two or three years afterwards William Beeler 
succeeded in capturing one of the daughters. His wife died 
April 8, 1862. 

On the 11th of January, 1868, he married Miss Mary A. H. 
O'Neal, a daughter of Cary O'Neal, of Benjaminville, a member 
of the Society of Friends. Mr. Beeler has had fourteen chil- 
dren, five of whom are married. The names of those who are 
married are : 



430 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mrs. Harriet Ann Westmoreland, wife of James "Westmore- 
land, lives a quarter of a mile from her father's house. 

Mrs. Sarah Jane Fry, wife of Jepsy Fry, lives three miles 
west of her father's, at Round's Grove. 

Mrs. Mary Ellen Banner, wife of Joshua Banner, lives about 
one mile north of Dry Grove. 

John David Beeler lives in Arrowsmith township. 

Mrs. Alferetta Fry, wife of Evander Fry, lives about a quar- 
ter of a mile west of her father's. 

Mr. Beeler is five feet and eleven and one-half inches in 
height, and seems strongly made. He is full of fun and humor. 
While telling a joke he appears very dry until the funny part 
comes in, and then his eyes have an amusing and wicked ex- 
pression. He enjoys a practical joke perhaps as well as any one 
in McLean County. He is a kind father to his family, and 
has succeeded well in life. 

Jesse Hill. 

Jesse Hill was born March 24, 1809, on Cherry Run, about 
five miles from Lexington, Kentucky. His father's name was 
James Hill, and his mother's maiden name was Polly Cope. His 
father was of Irish descent and his mother of English. James 
Hill, the father of Jesse, lived during his young days in Penn- 
sylvania, where he was born. At the age of eighteen he ran 
away from home and went to Kentucky, where Jesse was born. 
James Hill often had trouble with the Indians. At one time 
they captured a young woman and were taking her away, when 
James Hill, Daniel Boone and others went after the savages and 
re-captured the girl before the redskins could cross the Ohio 
River near the mouth of the Kentucky River. James Hill was 
a noted man for fighting Indians and building mills. He was a 
great mechanical genius. He made a great many long-waisted 
clock-cases, and carried on a cabinet shop. He built a mill on 
Cherry Run and another on Eagle Creek ; he built a saw-mill, 
a grist-mill, a still-house, and many other things. His ingenuity 
never failed him. At one time he built what he called a chain- 
mill. He found a little spring which poured its water over a 
rock and down a fall of sixty feet, and he utilized this by mak- 
ing a chain one hundred and twenty feet in length and attaching 



m'lean county. 431 

buckets to it, one to every other link. This chain ran over a 
cylinder, and as the little stream from the spring flowed out it 
filled the buckets with water and pulled down one side of the 
chain which turned the c} r liuder, and the power was utilized in 
driving the mill. It was a great curiosity, and people came from 
all over the country to see it. By means of the little spring he 
obtained power, enough to cut three thousand feet of hard oak 
lumber in a day. 

Jesse Hill was a young child at the close of the war of 1812, 
but he remembers the burning of tar barrels in the streets to 
celebrate the victory at New Orleans. "When he was nine years 
of age the Hill family came to Madison, Indiana, and then moved 
to the celebrated little spring, where his father put up the chain- 
mill. When Jesse Hill was twenty-one years of age he moved 
to Twin Grove, Illinois, where he arrived October 9, 1830. He 
lived with Colonel Beeler for a year and a half after his arrival. 
Colonel Beeler had known the father of Jesse in Kentucky, and 
the two gentlemen had once traded horses. Mr. Hill, sr.,gave 
the Colonel threejiundred dollars " boot" in exchanging horses, 
and the horse which Hill received died a day or two afterwards. 
When Jesse Hill came to Illinois he heard the Colonel bragging 
about this horse trade, and the circumstance made them ac- 
quainted, and Hill afterwards made matters still more agreeable 
by marrying the old gentleman's daughter. 

Mr. Hill's experience with the deep snow was in gathering 
corn, when he was obliged to reach down into the snow for the ears. 
He was obliged to go every other day for corn. During that 
winter old Billy McCord had some pigs in the brush and they 
came out eveiw day for their feed, making a deep path which 
had walls of snow on each side. The path was only wide enough 
for one pig to travel at a time, and they would be frequently 
frozen while standing in it. During this year, in the month of 
March, Peter McCullough and Abram Hays went to Blooming- 
ton, and on their return became lost. They were blinded, as 
the melting snow made a thick fog, and they could see only a 
short distance in any direction. McCullough and Hays were 
utterly bewildered and shouted for help. Their cries were heard 
and the neighbors started out to rescue them, but horns had to 
be blown to prevent the rescuers themselves from becoming lost. 



432 OLD SETTLERS OF 

During the spring after the deep snow the ground was so flooded 
with water that immense logs were floated off" from the edge of 
Twin Grove to the prairie. These were the trunks of trees 
which had been blown down by a hurricane a few years before. 

When the Black Hawk war broke out, Jesse Hill enlisted 
for the purpose of going ; but the horse which he intended to 
ride persisted in lying down in every creek he came to, and the 
rider was wet so often that he took the fever and ague and gave 
up his hopes of martial glory and missed the chance of immor- 
tality at Stillman's Run. 

Mr. Hill speaks particularly of the sudden change in the 
weather, which took place in December, 1836, and says that 
many chickens were frozen fast in the ice. 

Mr. Hill has never been much of a hunter, but has occasion- 
ally chased wolves. He was once with a party of hunters after 
a wild-cat, when they unexpectedly started a wolf and all took 
after it. Mr. Hill was mounted on a race-horse and frequently 
ran around the wolf, but had nothing to strike it or hold it until 
the dogs could come up. At last it ran into a slough with Mr. 
Hill close behind. When the horse struck the slough it went 
down, and Mr. Hill was thrown over its head on the wolf. He 
grabbed the brute with both hands and pressed down its hind 
quarters, but the mittens on his hands prevented him from get- 
ting a good hold, and the wolf tore away. Mat Harbert hal- 
looed, " hold him, Jess," but it was impossible to do it. 

Mr. Hill has had some experience with fires on the prairie, 
and says that the most exciting part to him is the sight of a 
prairie fire and a back fire coming together, with frightened 
wolves and deer between them trying to get away. 

For three years of his life Mr. Hill followed the business of 
well digging, and has had some interesting experience in this 
line. Once, while digging a well in Bloomington, on a lot be- 
longing to a certain Mr. Thompson, Mr. Hill struck, far below 
the surface of the ground, a walnut log. He cut it in two with 
an axe, and it seemed solid, but when brought to the surface it 
crumbled away. While digging a well down on Kickapoo for a 
certain Mr. Marsh, Mr. Hill came upon a burnt brush-heap 
which was thirteen feet deep in blue clay. The ashes, coals and 
brands were plain to be seen. Mr. Hill has had some experi- 



m'lean county. 433 

ence with " the damps," and says that they may be found in all 
wells, even those which are very shallow. He once went into a 
well, only twelve feet deep, belonging to James Tolliver of 
Bloomington, but had to be pulled out immediately, and was so 
far gone that he did not recover from the effects of it until the 
following day. " The damps" were cleared out by building a 
large fire of straw. " The damps" are not occasioned by damp- 
ness. Mr. Hill dug a well thirty feet deep for John Hay of 
Dry Grove, and the ground was so dry that it was fairly dusty, 
but the "damps began to affect it and he stopped work. William 
Brown went down to dig, but was so affected that he had to be 
hauled up, and when near the top became so weak that he fell 
and was drawn out with a hook. 

Mr. Hill has been married three times. He married, August 
17, 1831, Miss Nancy Beeler, daughter of old Colonel Beeler. 
His second marriage was in 1840, to Miss Phebe Munsell. His 
last marriage was in 1861, to Miss Matilda Hancock. His do- 
mestic life has always been pleasant. He has had twelve chil- 
dren, of whom ten are living, and has raised five children not 
his own. He has five children who are married. They are : 

John Wesley Hill, who lives a mile south of his father's 
house. 

Mrs. Jane Morgan, wife of Samuel Morgan, lives one-half 
mile west of her father's. 

Mrs. Martha Elizabeth Sackett, wife of Sabina Sackett, lives 
a little north of Cheney's Grove. 

Mrs. Nancy Ann Rogers, wife of James Rogers, lives at 
Stringtown, in Dale township. 

Mrs. Polly Margaret Philhower, wife of Jacob Philhower 
lives in the village of Noble, on the Illinois Central Railroad, 
in Southern Illinois. 

Mr. Hill has two sons, Zerah Munsell Hill and James Thomas 
Hill, who are killing buffalo in Southwestern Colorado, and have 
claims in Kansas, which they work during the spring and sum- 
mer. One of his sons wished to send a carload of buffalo meat 
to Bloomington to be sold, but it was considered too hazardous 
a speculation. He killed a hundred and fifty buffalo in one 
month. 

Mr. Hill is about five feet and six inches in height. He is 
28 



434 OLD SETTLERS OF 

lively, good-natured and talkative, and seems to know a good 
deal and can tell what he knows. He is active and hearty, and 
his appearance is youthful. Age makes little impression on 
him, except to bring the use of spectacles. He is humorous, 
and the joke he tells is usually a good one. He appreciates to 
the utmost anything witty or funny. His imagination is lively, 
which makes his conversation and his ideas noticeable. He has 
acquired a fair competence by his industry and enjoys this world 
immensely. 

Abram Enlow. 

Abram Enlow was born January 21, 1809, in Christian 
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Abraham Enlow, 
and his mother's before her marriage was Jemina Johnson. His 
father was partly of Dutch descent, and his mother was partly 
of Irish. Abraham Enlow died when Abram was quite young. 
The latter received only two years schooling in his youth. Sick- 
ness and hard work prevented him from attending more. 

The clothing in those days was often a curiosity. Nothing 
was considered more elegant than buckskin, and Abram Enlow 
remembers how his brother John appeared on one occasion, as 
he came out in a new suit of buckskin, dyed green. 

In 1835 Abram Enlow came to McLean County with his 
brother John. Abram's first experience was not pleasant, as the 
winter of 1835 and '36 was very severe. He admired the fine 
prairies, which did, indeed, gladden the eye of a farmer, who 
had been used to grubbing stumps in Kentucky ; but the severe 
winter made him return to Kentucky, which he did in 1836. 
Bat after two years more among the stumps of Kentucky, he 
turned back once more to Illinois. He married, September 27, 
1838, Louisa Harry. On the first of October, three days after 
his marriage, he started for McLean County, Illinois. His jour- 
ney was a very pleasant one, though the season was dry, and it 
wa.s sometimes difficult to obtain water. He camped out every 
night. The streams had no bridges, but during that season 
none were needed, as the creeks were nearly all dry. 

Soon after Mr. Enlow's arrival he went to the land office at 
Danville, and entered eighty acres of prairie, and bought five 
acres of timber to fence his land. He lived at his brother John's 



m'lean county. 435 

house and rented land during the first year. During the follow- 
ing year he began fencing and breaking ground, and in March 
he moved on his own place. It was a remarkably early season, 
for by the middle of March the cattle went out on the prairie 
for feed. Game was plenty. The little prairie wolves could be 
seen in the morning playing around after they had killed his 
sheep the night before. The wolves frequently collected to- 
gether in packs, and often came in the night up close to Mr. 
Enlow's door. Mr. Enlow was on one of the "ring" hunts, 
which were so popular among the settlers. The pole was put 
up at Normal, and they hunted towards it, killed many deer and 
wolves, had a social chat and went home. One deer, which was 
killed, was tied to a pony's tail and dragged in to the pole. 

Mr. Enlow settled in the West at an unfortunate time, when 
business was prostrate and grain commanded a very low price. 
He could sell his corn and oats in Bloomington for ten cents per 
bushel and take his pay in store goods, and he could take his 
wheat to Pekin and get for it only thirty-five cents per bushel. 
When he came to Illinois he had only enough money to enter 
his eighty acres of land, buy his five acres of timber, and pur- 
chase a few housekeeping utensils and a stock of provisions. 
When his stock of provisions was exhausted it seemed for a 
while a desperate matter to live. He first obtained three dollars 
a hundred for his pork, but afterwards a dollar and a half; and 
prices reached such an extremely low figure that the neighbors 
all clubbed together and sent their pork to Chicago; but then 
they obtained less than a dollar per hundred. Mr. Enlow sent 
four hogs weighing each two hundred and fifty pounds with the 
drove to Chicago, and received eight dollars, which was just 
eighty cents per hundred weight. It was not until the Illinois 
Central Railroad came that produce began to rise and farmers 
commenced making money. Mr. Enlow sold his eighty acres 
of entered land for seventy-five dollars an acre. The timber 
land, which he first bought, is now covered with a second growth 
of fine trees. 

Mr. Enlow has had four children, but only one son and one 
daughter grew up to manhood and womanhood. They are : 

Samuel T. Enlow lives a few rods from his father's house. 



436 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Myers, wife of George Myers, lives 
about two miles southwest of her father's. 

Mr. Enlow is six feet and one inch in height, is very muscu- 
lar and works hard. He has a sanguine complexion, rather a 
bald head and large, honest eyes. He is a very pleasant man to 
talk to, and takes an interest in the early settlement of the 
country, Mrs. Enlow is a very pleasing and intelligent lady. 
Shrewd observers say that the success of many men is due to 
the influence of their wives, and it is very probable that the in- 
fluence of Mrs. Enlow has contributed very materially to her 
husband's success in life. Mr. Enlow lives in the southern edge 
of Twin Grove in Dale township, is very comfortably situated, 
and bids fair to enjoy a long and happy life. 

RlCHARD ROWELL. 

Richard Rowell was born May 20, 1814, in the town of Lit- 
tleton, Grafton County, New Hampshire. His father's name 
was Jonathan Rowell, and his mother's name before her marri- 
age was Sarah Hoskin. Both were of Puritan stock. The 
grandfather of Richard was Daniel Rowell, a soldier of the 
Revolution. This gentleman was in the series of battles, which 
terminated in the surrender of General Burgoyne. Richard 
Rowell lived until the age of twenty-two among the rocks of 
Grafton County, within sight of Mt. Washington. But not- 
withstanding the sterility of the country the schools were excel- 
lent, and Richard received a good common education. In 
addition to this, he attended a grammar school at Concord, 
Vermont. At the age of eighteen he taught school in Vermont. 

In May, 1836, he started for the "West, being anxious at first 
to find a place for teaching school. He had no friends or ac- 
quaintances in the West, and was obliged to make his way 
alone. He went by stage from Littleton to Saratoga. From 
the latter place he rode to Schenectady on a railroad, in cars 
drawn by horses, and thence to Buffalo by canal. Here he took 
a steamer to Detroit. From that place he shipped his trunk to 
Chicago by schooner, and traveled on foot through what was 
then the territory of Michigan. His route was very nearly that 
which the Michigan Central Railroad now takes. He passed 
through Ann Arbor, which was then a respectable village, 



m'lean county. 437 

though the great University had not been thought of. He 
crossed the lake in a steamboat from the mouth of the St. Joseph 
River to Chicago. After spending two weeks in looking at the 
country he commenced work in Chicago as a carpenter. The 
Indians of Northern Illinois, principally Pottawatomies, were 
then receiving their last annuity, and they were thick. About 
two thousand were collected in the city, but they soon left and 
never returned. During the latter part of October he went to 
the present site of La Salle by stage. The stage was a wagon, 
which the passengers were often obliged to lift out of the mud. 
He stepped from the stage on the steamboat Frontier. He saw 
no houses where La Salle now stands, though a few might have 
been concealed by the bank of the river. His berth on the 
steamboat was a bed of slats and nothing else. He came to 
Peoria and there found the prospect for school-teaching poor. 
So he left his trunk, picked up his valise, and crossed the Illi- 
nois River. He stayed for one night with the widow of Jacob 
Funk, and of her learned of Funk's Grove. He traveled on 
with the intention of reaching that place. But when he arrived 
at Stout's Grove, he found an opportunity to teach school. He 
began about the first of November, and continued his first term 
until the following April. The raising of the first store build- 
ing in Danvers (then Concord) was a great event, and Mr. Row- 
ell dismissed his school for three days to assist in the proceed- 
ings. The building still stands south of Ewins' mill. Mr. 
Rowell taught school during that summer and the following 
winter. In the spring of 1838, he and his brother, B. F. Rowell, 
who had come during the fall previous, commenced farming on 
the head branch of Rock Creek, out on the prairie, a mile and 
a half from timber. It was thought that these daring men would 
freeze to death out there, and they went by the name of " the 
fool Yankees." They lived until 1848 with unentered land on 
both sides of them. On one side of them the land was not 
entered until 1850. In the winter of 1853, Mr. Rowell sold out 
his interest in the farm and took a trip to Iowa. He had a 
pleasant journey, camped out and enjoyed himself very much; 
but in his careful observations he saw no land equal to that in 
McLean County. He returned and bought the premises of Mr. 



438 



OLD SETTLERS OF 



Samuel Barker of Twin Grove, and has lived on this place until 
the present time in the township of Dale. 

Mr. Rowell married Nancy Barnard, December 15, 1853. 
He has had three children, of whom two are living. They are, 
Lois and Emma, and both live at home. 

Mr. Rowell is full six feet in height and weighs about one 
hundred and eighty pounds. His form indicates activity and 
strength. His head is large and well shaped, and is a little bald. 
His eyes are dark, bright and expressive. His mind seems to 
have a practical turn, and he has what phrenologists call con- 
tinuity, that is, he is disposed to finish what he has in hand, and 
his mind is not easily driven from the work. His practical turn 
of mind and his clear perceptions, make his judgment more than 
usually correct concerning all of the material affairs of life. He 
is polite and obliging in his manner. He has been supervisor 
for about nine years, was one of the commissioners of the build- 
ing of the present court-house, and possesses in a very great de- 
gree the confidence of his neighbors. 

DANVERS TOWNSHIP. 

Ebenezer Briggs Mitchel. 

Ebenezer B. Mitchel was born August 17, 1813, in Morgan- 
field, Union County, Kentucky. His father was Rev. Peyton 
Mitchel, and his mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Briggs. 
They were both of purely Scotch descent, but of the third gene- 
ration, since their ancestors came from Scotland. Rev. Peyton 
Mitchel was a minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 
He devoted his time to the ministry and was a very effective 
preacher. During the war of 1812 he enlisted in the army and 
was elected captain of a company, but was never called into 
active service. 

In December, 1818, the family of Rev. Mr. Mitchel moved 
to Sangamon County, Illinois, on Fancy Creek, about eight miles 
north of Springfield. They traveled in a wagon drawn by four 
Aorses. At one time the horses started to run and seemed to be 
unmanageable, when Mrs. Mitchel, who was a woman of remark- 
able resolution, ran forward, grasped the bridle of one of the 



m'lean county. 439 

lead horses and assisted in stopping them. On the way they met 
old Billy Hodge, who had come to the country and was return- 
ing eastward. The Indians were then numerous and occasion- 
ally troublesome. They were the Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, 
Delawares and others. At one time a band of Indians went to 
Springfield and became intoxicated, and on their return attempt- 
ed to go into MitchePs house, when he was absent ; but Mrs. 
Mitchel barred the door, and the dogs outside fought them. Mrs. 
Mitchel told the savages that her husband was sick, and insisted 
that they should leave; but they hung around until nearly 
morning, banging against the door, yelling, whooping and 
fighting. 

The country there was very unhealthy and everyone suffered 
from bilious complaints. On the third of March, 1825, the 
family came to Stout's Grove, in what was then Fayette County, 
but now is McLean. There they found only two families, those 
of the two Ephraim Stout's, father and son. The Indians were 
plenty and were always anxious to trade. They came sometimes 
singly, sometimes in small parties, and sometimes in great num- 
bers. They would trade anything they had, except their labor; 
no inducement was great enough to make them work. Mr. 
Mitchel tried them again and again, and was particularly anxious 
to have them husk corn ; but they would husk half a dozen ears 
and stop. They had queer ideas of value, and would give more 
for a rooster's feather than for anything else, and would put it 
in their hair and be perfectly delighted. Their dress usually 
consisted of leggins, moccasins and a blanket, while their ears 
and noses were ornamented with rings. They had high cheek 
bones, and their skin was the color of tanned leather, or per- 
haps of copper, but not so red. Their feet were large and flat ; 
their legs and arms were small, but wiry, showing the Indians 
to be good for walking, but not worth much for work. 

Rev. Peyton Mitchel was active in the ministry and did good 
work. He preached the first sermon in Funk's Grove, and 
wherever he could find an opportunity he engaged in the work 
of the great Master. Churches were soon organized and school- 
houses were built, and Ebenezer Mitchel thinks the society at 
that time was much more reliable than it is at present. He 
thinks the promise of an old settler was much better than most 
people's bonds. 



440 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The deep snow fell in 1830 and '31. Mr. Mitchel took re- 
peated measurements of its depth in the timber, where it had 
not drifted, and it there averaged forty inches. A crust on it 
was soon formed, and the wolves ran over it; but the sharp 
footed deer broke through. 

When the heavy fall of snow came, a certain Mr. Barnes, an 
old sea-faring captain, was caught at Mr. Mitchel's house, and 
in order to go to his home in Mosquito Grove, the former was 
obliged to make some snow-shoes. They were made of bows 
shaped like ox-bows, and were covered with light, strong splints 
made of wood or bark. "When they were worn they were fast- 
ened to the toe of the foot by a kind ot slipper, but not fastened 
at the heel. When the toe was inserted in the slipper, some 
straps passed back, crossed the foot on the instep, and were tied 
behind the heel. This prevented the toe from being withdrawn 
and left the heel free. While walking, the feet were held wide 
apart, and the shoes were dragged along over the surface. If 
the snow was fresh, they were usually pressed down a little, but 
bore a man's weight pretty well. During that winter the Mitchel 
family were pretty well provided with corn, but soon ran out of 
meal. Ebenezer chopped a hole in a log as deep as he could cut, 
then with fire burnt it still deeper, then cut off the section con- 
taining the hole and brought it in the house and used it as a 
mortar. He then cut a thick stick about three feet long, worked 
one end small for a handle, slipped over it an iron ring, which 
was pressed clear to the other end, which was left large enough 
to prevent the ring from being slipped off. Into the larger end 
a heavy iron wedge was driven, and with this as a pestle, the 
corn was pounded in the burnt mortar. After along pounding, 
the corn was sifted and the fine was used for meal, while the 
coarse was boiled for hominy. 

When the land came in market, the settlers were usually 
careful not to enter each other's claims, and used all means to 
protect each other ; but sometimes they differed as to the own- 
ership of a claim, and their differences were aggravated by the 
uncertainty of the law, which allowed what was called " floating" 
claims. A settler could enter a quarter section of land and 
locate it anywhere within the section, that is, he could " float 
down" on any quarter section not previously entered. Some- 



m'lean county. 441 

times he would accidentally or otherwise " float down" on some 
one's claim, and then would follow a land contest. But these 
contests resulted more from the uncertain law than from any 
quarrelsome disposition on the part of the settlers. They were 
fair-minded men, and these land contests afforded them no 
pleasure. 

Ebenezer Mitchel was no hunter, but he occasionally went 
after deer and wolves, which he chased on horseback with dogs. 
But on one occasion he found some wolves a little too strong for 
him. He started a large timber or gray wolf and chased it for 
some distance on horseback, when it was joined by four or five 
others, and then they refused to run, but stood their ground and 
drove back MitcheFs dog. They showed their teeth and were 
ready for fight, and Mr. Mitchel went back for his gun, but on 
his return the wolves were not to be found. But as a usual 
thing the danger of chasing wolves did not arise from the fero- 
cious nature of the animal, for it belongs to one of the most 
cowardly species, and is very easily killed. A skillful blow with 
a club is usually sufficient to do the work. But riding over the 
prairie at a breakneck pace has dangers sometimes not thought 
of. While Ebenezer Mitchel and his brother were once chasing 
a wolf, the horse, which the former rode, plunged into a slough 
and fell, while its rider was thrown twenty feet ahead. He rose 
and told his brother to go on, "he'd be up in a minute." But 
Ebenezer was not up in a minute. His horse's head was jammed 
under its body, and by the time it was loosened, his brother and 
the wolf had vanished. The cowardice and fear displayed by a 
wolf is sometimes most abject and mean. "When it is run down 
it crouches on the ground and quietly receives the blow, which 
kills it. Mr. Mitchel remembers one wolf, which ran its nose 
into a hole and was killed in that position. 

Mr. Mitchel has occasionally hunted deer and had some lively 
sport and some strange adventures. At one time he killed a 
deer after a somewhat exciting chase, and went home for help 
to bring it in. He and his brother, after some discussion, de- 
cided to carry it on an ox. They went out for the deer and 
placed it on the ox, and Mr. Mitchel rode the animal to steady 
the load, while his brother led the way. When they had gone 
about half-way home, the ox commenced bouncing, and raised 



442 OLD SETTLERS OF 

its load high in the air, and both man and deer came down 
together. Mr. Mitchel's ankle was much hurt, and did not be- 
come well for three months. 

The fires on the prairie were a great annoyance to the early 
settlers, but they were grand sights. They lit up the heavens 
and made everything as light as day for many miles around. 
The grass was long on low ground, and, as the fire passed over 
it, the blaze rolled up magnificently. These fires often did great 
damage, and Mr. Mitchel sometimes lost his stacks and rail 
fences by them. 

The sudden change in the weather of December, 1836, so 
often described in this volume, caught Mr. Mitchel about half a 
mile from home, and when he returned everything was crack- 
ing ; the water and slush were turned to ice. The intense cold 
drove his stock nearly crazy ; the chickens curled up and fell 
from their roosts, and everything was in confusion ; but by care 
and great exertions nearly all was put under shelter and saved. 

The country in early days was sometimes troubled with 
horse-thieves. They were thought to have a family in Mosquito 
Grove, who sympathized with them. This was the Reddon 
family, consisting of old man Reddon and his two sons, Jack 
and Harrison. At one time, when some horses were missing, 
Isaac Funk, Robert Stubblefield and some others came to Mr. 
Mitchel's house and asked him to go with them to the Reddons. 
He did so, and they all arrived there in the night while it was 
raining. The Reddons were waked up and the old man Reddon 
came rushing to the door saying : "Who are you, horse-thieves ?" 
They said they were after horse-thieves, and told the Reddons 
that their house must be searched. After some parley it was 
done, but nothing was found. But suspicion of the Reddons 
became so near a certainty that it was decided to drive them off, 
and the Fourth of July was appointed as the day for a grand 
ring hunt, with the understanding among nearly all, that the 
Reddons should be the game. They went with their rifles and 
gave the Reddons notice that they must leave the country, and 
they went. Before this time a horse had been stolen, and the 
thieves were pressed very closely, and Robert Stubblefield with 
a one-eyed horse succeeded in catching up with them, and found 
Jack Reddon riding the stolen animal. Mr. Stubblefield had 



m'lean county. 443 

neither pistol nor club to stop the thieves, and after riding a 
short time with them, and making great exertions to stop them, 
while all parties were going at rapid speed, he was obliged to 
fall back, and Jack Reddon escaped. After the Reddon family 
was broken up, the neighborhood had peace. 

Ebeuezer Mitchel married, May 26, 1836, at twelve o'clock, 
M., Rachel Vance. They have had seven children, of whom 
three are living. They are : 

Mrs. Elizabeth Christian, wife of Matthew Christian, lives in 
Springfield. 

Mrs. Emma Price, wife of Edward L. Price, lives near her 
father's. 

Ebenezer Mitchel, jr., lives at home. 

Mr. Mitchel is of rather less than the ordinary stature, but 
he seems to be a very active, wide-awake man, with a great deal 
of energy and good muscle. He is a man, who is straight-for- 
ward himself, and admires honesty and fair dealing in others. 
This is one cause of the great interest he takes in the doings of 
the early settlers. He found that their word could be depended 
on, and that they would make great exertions to fulfil their 
agreements. He says that the associations of McLean County 
and the many incidents which have happened while he has been 
in it, make it very dear to him. His children are, some of them, 
buried here, and the old settlers, with whom he was associated 
in early days, are many of them living here. He feels that they 
have worked together for so many years, and endured so many 
hardships, that they should be considered members of a common 
family. Mr. Mitchel has been very successful in life, and has 
become very well to do in the world. He has been fortunate in 
the enjoyment of the society of a good woman, his wife, a lady 
remarkable for her goodness of heart and quietness of manner. 

Hon. Matthew Robb. 

Matthew Robb, usually known as Squire Robb, was born 
July 15, 1801, in Washington County, Kentucky. His father, 
Thomas Robb, was born in Ireland, August 10, 1769, and came 
with his parents to America while an infant. Thomas Robb 
married Lydia Waller, a lady of Welch descent, on the 23d of 
April, 1795, and Matthew Robb, the fourth son, was born in 



444 OLD SETTLERS OF 

1801, as above stated. "When the latter was quite small the 
family moved to Union County, Indiana. Thomas Robb died 
June 24, 1818, being thrown from a horse, and Mrs. Robb was 
left in not very comfortable circumstances with a large family 
of children to care for. But eleven of these children grew up 
and raised families. One of them is Mrs. Eliza Cox, now living 
in Southern Illinois. It was a heavily timbered country, and 
not very pleasant work to plough among the trees and stumps, 
and Matthew Robb determined to live where he could turn a 
long furrow without striking stumps. His education was limit- 
ed, and was obtained with difficulty. He went to school only 
six months, as he could hardly be spared from the farm. Nev- 
ertheless he learned to write plainly and well and was a correct 
and rapid accountant. He was a lively young man, full of fun 
and the best of humor. He would carry a young lady behind 
him on horseback to a party five or six miles distant, and he 
often took young ladies to church in the same way. They had 
no buggies or carriages then, but they had quite as much fun, 
and perhaps a little more. In August, 1821, Matthew Robb 
married Mary McClure, daughter of Thomas McClure. In 
the spring of 1824, he came to that part of Sangamon 
County, whioh now forms the county of Logan, about two 
and a half miles from where Postville now stands. Here he 
raised a crop and then brought out his wife and child 
and household goods from Indiana. The child is the present 
Mrs. Abraham Stansberry, of Bloomington. When he arrived 
at his farm he had only twenty-five cents in silver in his pocket, 
but he was happy because he could plough without the trouble 
of avoiding stumps. In the spring of 1827 he moved to Stout's 
Grove. Here he lived lonely enough, as his neighbors were 
principally Indians. His cabin was of logs, and his door with- 
out a lock and only a spinning wheel to place against it to hold 
it fast. 

Matthew Robb was a noted man at Stout's Grove. He was 
the first justice of the peace, was elected in 1827, and held the 
office for twelve years. He issued the first summons in Sep- 
tember, 1827. He married the young men and women of 
Stout's Grove and the whole country around, but used very 
little ceremony in the matter. At one time when he started for 



m'lean county. 445 

mill he was met near his house by James Snodgrass and Betsy 
Smith, who had come to be joined in the holy bonds of matri- 
mony. All three went back to the house, and the service was 
performed before Mrs. Robb and her daughter (the present Mrs. 
Stansberry) could come in to witness it. The latter had been 
out milking, and hastened in just too late. At another time 
John Pore and Miss Brown, of Brown's Grove, concluded to 
live together for better or for worse. Mr. Pore came for Squire 
Robb to perform the service. The former crossed Sugar Creek 
to bring Mr. Robb ; but as the weather had been rainy, the creek 
rose rapidly, and it was very inconvenient to cross. Mr. Pore 
crossed it on a log or beam, while the Squire sat on horseback 
on his own side of the stream. Mr. Pore brought his bride 
down to the creek and, as it was now about eight o'clock at night, 
torches were lit. It was raining at the time, but they paid no 
attention to that. Squire Robb rode a little distance into the 
water in order to distinguish the bridegroom and bride on the 
opposite bank, and the interesting ceremony was performed. 

Mr. Robb was most fortunate in his domestic affairs, for his 
lady was one of the best of women. She was courageous, too, 
and did many things from which women would naturally shrink. 
Once, while returning home on horseback from a visit to her 
father's, the dogs with her started a wolf, and after chasing it 
for some time brought it to bay, and Mrs. Robb jumped from 
her horse and killed the wolf with her stirrup. She was a wo- 
man of great practical sense, and much of the credit for her 
husband's success was no doubt due to her. She was a very 
quiet woman in society, though she was fond of company and 
was always pleased to see her friends. She was a very religious 
woman and was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church. She died August 23, 1868, and Squire Robb died Feb- 
ruary 24, 1870. Both were buried at Stout's Grove, where a 
monument is erected to their memory. They had six children, 
of whom three grew up to years of discretion. They are : 

Eliza J., born May 30, 1823. She was married to Edward 
Matthews, who died in July, 1863. She is now the wife of 
Abraham Stansberry, of Bloomington. 

Lydia E., born June 15, 1828, was married to J. B. Taylor, 



44(3 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of South Carolina. He died some years since. She is now the 
wife of Hiram L. Phillips, of Stout's Grove. 

Susan M. Robb, born July 15, 1831, died in May, 1850. She 
was never married. 

Matthew Robb was six feet in height, had dark hair, dark 
complexion and heavy eyebrows, was rather slim, and weighed 
one hundred and seventy-five pounds. He was very quick in 
business matters, and went ahead with all his might. He loved 
a joke and was full of sport. It is said that the test of a genu- 
ine humorist is his enjoyment of a joke on himself. According 
to this test, Mr. Robb was a humorist, for his good nature and 
love of fun were aroused by jokes on himself as well as on others. 
He had no enemies, but was friendly to all of his neighbors, 
and tried to make them friendly toward each other. "When 
cases were brought before him, he tried always to act as a peace- 
maker, rather than as a justice of the peace, and made an effort 
to compromise matters and settle them amicably. In the winter 
of 1846 and '47 he was a member of the Legislature ; but in 
speaking his name the title " Honorable " was seldom used, for 
he had been justice of the peace for so long a time that every- 
one knew him as Squire Robb. Mr. Robb was one of the con- 
tractors who built the jail at Mackinawtown, then the county 
seat of Tazewell County. When it was finished he was afraid it 
was not strong enough to hold the criminals to be confined in it. 
In order to test its strength Squire Robb was himself locked up 
in it, but succeeded in breaking out. 

Thomas McCluue. 

Thomas McClure was born July 15, 1765, in Rockingham 
County, Virginia. He was descended from tough, hardy, Scotch- 
Irish stock. When he was sixteen years of age he came to 
Kentucky, and there his occupation was farming and shooting 
Indians. The latter were exceedingly troublesome, and kept 
the settlers continually on the alert by their stratagems and am- 
buscades. It was a favorite pastime with the Indians to lie in 
ambush near a settler's cabin and shoot the first man who 
stepped out, and great vigilance was always required. 

The door of every cabin was guarded by a strong bar, which 
could not be forced, and behind it an axe was kept always ready 



m'lean county. 447 

for use, as the most effective weapon. Robert McClure, the el- 
der brother of Thomas, was celebrated as an Indian tighter, 
and with his own rifle was known to have killed seven Indians ; 
but he hunted them a little too long, and was himself killed by 
them. Some comical stories are told of the enconnters'with the 
Indians. Atone time the McClures and a number of others 
among whom was a man named John Logan, had an encounter 
with the Indians in a cane-brake and killed several of the sava- 
ges and took one prisoner. The latter attemped to escape, but 
was overtaken by John Logan, a fleet runner, and after a short, 
sharp struggle was killed. John Logan was asked why he did 
not bite the Indian in the struggle, and replied that the savage 
did not smell very sweet ! 

Thomas McClure was, in his younger days, a man of great 
activity and could out-run or out-jump all of his companions. 
In those days athletic sports were in high repute, and a fortune 
was promised to Mr. McClure if he would travel as an athlete, 
but he refused, and would not run or jump if he knew that any 
money was staked on the result. 

Thomas McClure was not a soldier in the war of 1812, as he 
was then somewhat disabled by the severe hardships and toils 
of frontier life ; but one of his sons went into the army and saw 
some campaigning. He was very active and earnest in raising 
troops. The following incident, related by Henry C. McClure, 
of Danvers, explains the inability of Thomas McClure to engage 
actively in the war of 1812 : 

" Thomas McClure was once on a forced march, during one 
of the forays with the Indians, in which he was often engaged. 
On this march he spied a coon in a tree top. The sight was too 
tempting, so up went his carbine, and off tumbled the coon. It 
caught among the branches, which were very thick. He threw 
off his bullet pouch and other trappings and started up the tree, 
while his companions went on. After securing the coon he has- 
tened to his comrades and came up with them about three miles 
away. Then he noticed that he had left his bullet pouch and 
he returned the whole distance for it. He succeeded in rejoin- 
ing his companions late at night. The coon cost him dearly, 
for although he was a man of powerful frame, the severe march 
caused a constriction of the tendons of one of his legs and he 



448 OLD SETTLERS OF 

was lamed for life. He had walked on that day more than fifty 
miles." 

Thomas McClure married Susan Hynes in the year 1790, 
about two years before the birth of his son Robert. The family 
came to Indiana in about the year 1816, and settled in Posey 
County. In the year 1824 the family came to Illinois, and set- 
tled on the east side of the Sangamon River in Sangamon 
County. There their principal occupation was eating water- 
melons and shaking with the ague. They ground their wheat 
and corn at a horse mill belonging to Mr. Danley. They re- 
mained one year on the Sangamon River and then moved to Lo- 
gan County, near the present town of Postville, between the 
forks of Salt Creek and the Kickapoo. There the McClures 
enjoyed themselves by catching wolves. Thomas McClure lived 
there until the spring of 1827, when he moved to Stout's Grove. 
There he built the fifth house in that section of country. It 
was a hewed log house nineteen feet square, and was used as a 
church, aud people came there from many miles distant. The 
women would walk to church in their bare feet, for a distance 
of three miles, and when they came within a hundred yards of 
the meeting house they would stop and put on their shoes, 
which they had brought with thern. Mr. McClure was a Cum- 
berland Presbyterian from the year 1800, or about that time. 
He was elected one of the first elders of the church which was 
organized at Stout's Grove. 

The settlers were not accustomed to the luxuries of civiliza- 
tion, and some of them had never tasted coffee. Some of the 
women could not even make it, and it is said that a peddler 
once gave a certain Mrs. Carlock some coffee, and she boiled it 
with beef, and had a fearful tasting mixture! Our informant 
says : " That's as true as the book of Genesis !" 

Thomas McClure entered one hundred and twenty acres of 
land at Stout's Grove, and lived there until his death, which oc- 
curred January 3, 1847. He had ten children who grew up and 
one child who died in infancy. They were Robert, James, Mary 
John, Samuel, Naucy, Margaret, Eustatia Jane, Finis E. and 
Benjamin II. McClure. Of these only Nancy and Benjamin are 
living. Nancy lives near Eldora, in Hardin County, Iowa, and 
Benjamin has lived in McLean County until within the last rive 



m'lean county. 449 

years, during which he has lived near Gibson, in Ford County. 
Thomas McClure was about six feet and two inches in height, 
and, when in health, weighed two hundred and twenty-five 
pounds. He was universally liked and respected. It is literally 
true that he had scarcely a personal enemy in the world. He 
was not only willing, but anxious to accommodate his neighbors 
and friends. 

Robert McClure. 

The following interesting sketch of Robert McClure was 
written for this work by Henry C. McClure of Danvers. 

Robert McClure, son of Thomas McClure, was born near 
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, o*n the 24th of June, 1792. His pater- 
nal grandfather was a native of Scotland, and came to Virginia 
during the fore part of the eighteenth century. 

When Robert McClure was in his nineteenth year he served 
for three months in the Kentucky militia against the Indians. 
Soon afterwards he went with the family to Posey County, In- 
diana. On the 24th of December, 1818, Mr. McClure married 
Nancy Devenna Warrick, daughter of that Captain Warrick 
who fell bravely lighting at the head of his company at the 
battle of Tippecanoe. He followed farming until the fall of 
1821, when he moved to Illinois and settled on Salt Creek, about 
two miles south of where the city of Lincoln now stands. His 
father, Thomas McClure, and his brother James McClure and 
family, made up the party. Their journey was marked by a 
few adventures. When they arrived at the Little Wabash tim- 
ber, James McClure went out one rainy day for a hunt. He 
lost his way in the timber and remained over night. The next 
day was cloudy and foggy, and he could not see the sun to get 
his bearing. He traveled that day in a circle, and camped at 
night near his starting place in the morning. On the morning 
of the second day the sun came out clear, and he soon found his 
way to camp. His young wife was nearly frantic with anxiety 
and fear. A few days later, while the teams were resting on the 
edge of a prairie, the men began picking hazelnuts, while the 
women attended to the teams. Suddenly the lightning Hashed 
close to them, and it was followed immediately by a terrific clap 
of thunder. One of the four-horse teams sprang forward and 
29 



450 OLD SETTLERS OF 

upset the wagon. Another ran for two miles and did not stop 
until it came against two trees. The third team was attached 
to the wagon, where Mrs. James McClure and another woman, 
Mrs. Vaughan, were sitting. The team sprang forward, and 
Mrs. Vaughan set up a shriek, but Mrs. McClure stopped her, 
then climbed forward on the wagon-tongue, mounted the saddle- 
horse, seized the single line by which the horses were guided 
and stopped the team. 

When the McClure family arrived at Salt Creek, Robert 
McClure made a claim to a farm, on which he lived for about 
five years. The Indians were then numerous and sometimes 
troublesome. At one time, while Mr. McClure was at Stout's 
Grove, a band of these savages, led by Toby Whiteyes and Jim 
Buck, came to the cabin, where Mrs. McClure and her three 
little children were, and asked where the " chemoka man" (white 
man) was. She answered that he was somewhere not far off. 
But they were better posted than she supposed, for they appeared 
enraged and said : "You lie! you lie! chemoka man gone, che- 
moka man gone ; to-night we make powder and lead fly like 
damnation." Then they started off with hideous yells. Mrs. 
McClure took the matter coolly and was not troubled with hys- 
terics. She sent for her sister-in-law, not far oft", whose husband 
was also at Stout's Grove, and they held a council of war and 
declared the cabin in a state of siege, and prepared for defense. 
They shut the door and blockaded it with a table, some iron 
kettles and large stones, and sat behind it with axes. But the 
Indians did not return, which was a very agreeable disappoint- 
ment to the women. 

The settlers at a very early day did their trading at Spring- 
field. At that time the seed obtained from blue-grass was of 
considerable value, and the settlers often went to Blue Grass 
Point, on Kickapoo Creek, to gather the seed. At the time of 
the execution of Vanuoy, the wife murderer, at Springfield, 
Robert and James McClure and their wives started for that place 
in a wagon with their blue grass seed. They found the Sanga- 
mon River swollen by rains, but resolved to cross at all events. 
It was arranged that in case the water proved very deep, Robert 
McClure should hold the wagon-bed to the fore wheels to pre- 
vent them from uncoupling, and James should take care of the 



m'lean county. 451 

hind wheels, while the ladies held up the grass seed, which was 
in sacks. They drove in, their horses surged and floundered, 
and the water rushed into the wagon-box, but all attended to 
their duties. They succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, 
but were wet enough to satisfy a hardshell Baptist. The ladies 
were in a sad plight, for their white dresses were wet and soiled. 
But they washed them, dried them on the grass, and their grass 
seed also, and went to Springfield in time to witness the first 
execution of a murderer condemned under the laws of the State 
of Illinois. 

In March, 1827, Robert McClure moved from his place on 
Salt Creek to Stout's Grove. Here he made a claim, and when 
the land came into market, he entered four or five hundred 
acres. The rattlesnakes were then numerous at Stout's Grove, 
and Robert McClure celebrated the first year of his residence 
there by killing three hundred and thirty of these reptiles. The 
wolves were plenty, and often came into the door-yard and car- 
ried of geese and chickens. Robert McClure took great pleas- 
ure in hunting wolves and killing them with his stirrup. 

During the celebrated winter of the deep snow Robert Mc- 
Clure walked, and sometimes rode his horse on the snow drifts 
over the staked and double-ridered fences. At one time, while 
he was riding, the crust gave way, and both horse and rider dis- 
appeared almost from sight. But he climbed out, obtained a 
shovel and dug a path for his horse to a more shallow place, 
where the animal could again mount the crust. He had a great 
deal of stock to attend to during that winter. 

When the Black Hawk war broke out, Robert McClure and 
others raised a company of volunteers, and he was elected cap- 
tain by a decided majority. His company did not participate 
in the fight, which resulted in Stillman's defeat, as they did not 
arrive on the ground until the day after the contest took place. 
He assisted at the burial of the seventeen persons, who were 
massacred by the savages on Indian Creek. 

It may be interesting for the young ladies and gentlemen who 
now enjoy such rare literary advantages, to know that Robert Mc- 
Clure, with the assistance of his neighbors, built the first institu- 
tion of learning in western McLean County. They cut and hewed 
the logs and built the house ; they split the clapboards for the 



452 OLD SETTLERS OF 

roof with a froe and mallet; they built the chimney with coarse 
slats lined with clay mixed with cut-straw, called in the parlance 
of the early settlers, " cat and clay." They made the floor of 
split logs hewed on the upper side with a broad axe. Colonel 
McClure then made a road to the school-house from his own 
dwelling by blazing his way with a broad-axe and afterwards 
cutting down the trees and brush. The children's feet soon 
wore a path. 

Probably very few of the younger people have heard of a 
whipsaw. It was a long thin saw for making lumber. It was 
used in what would now be considered a novel way. Two logs 
were laid four or five feet apart across a deep ravine. Cross- 
timbers were then placed on these and the log to be sawed 
was rolled on them. One man then stood below and another 
above, and after marking the log with a chalk line the exercises 
commenced. In this way the wild cherry lumber was sawed for 
the first bureau in McLean County, made by Caleb Kinder, of 
Blooming Grove. A six-legged table was made at the same 
time. Things which are very insignificant now were great events 
in the early days. 

Robert McClure, Daniel Francis and Mr. Phillips viewed and 
located the State road leading from Danville to Fort Clark 
(Peoria). Mr. McClure was familiar with many trades, as the 
early settlers were obliged to be. The old anvil block which 
he used forty years ago, still stands in the garden of Henry C. 
McClure, where it was placed. 

Robert McClure kept his family always well supplied with 
venison, wild turkey and honey, for these were all plenty. Ma- 
ple sugar and syrup could also be obtained in large quantities, 
and the settlers kept large iron kettles in which to boil the 
sap. 

For some time after the family came to Stout's Grove, they 
manufactured their Indian meal from corn brayed in a mortar 
made from a log about three feet long and two feet in diameter. 
The log was placed on end, and a hole was burned into it six- 
teen inches deep. This was cleaned out with an inshave. The 
finest meal was obtained by sifting it through a sieve made 
of deer skin stretched over a hoop. The holes in the 
skin were burned with the heated tines of a fork. The 



m'lean county. 453 

one meal was used for bread, and the coarse for hominy. 
But after some years a Mr. MeKnight built a mill about twenty 
miles distant, and the hominy mortar was laid aside. Mr. Mc- 
Clure was obliged to make lengthy trips for salt. He went sev- 
eral times to the Saline lick, near Shawneetown, about three 
hundred miles distant, and brought loads of salt in a wagon 
drawn by three or four yoke of oxen. The Illinois Central 
Railroad was not thought of then, but the I., B. & W. road 
occupied the minds of many citizens of Tazewell County. They 
thought particularly of that branch of the road which runs from 
Tremont to Pekin. But perhaps the longest trip he was obliged 
to make was his expedition to Natchez, Mississippi, after seed 
corn. Amid all these difficulties he enjoyed life well, as he was 
surrounded by his father, mother, sisters and their families and 
all of his brothers except John. The latter remained in In- 
diana. 

Robert McClure was one of seven members, who organized 
the first Cumberland Presbyterian Church in McLean County. 
He lived a devoted member of this church and was always anx- 
ious for its welfare. In the month of August, 1834, he was at- 
tacked with cancer, from which he suffered severely for about 
one year, but bore the pain with great fortitude. He died 
August 8, 1835. His very kind wife outlived him some twenty- 
eight years, being called to the better land on the 7th of Janu- 
ary, 1863. They are buried side by side in the cemetery at 
Stout's Grove, one mile west of where he spent the last nine 
years of his life. 

Robert McClure's children are six in number : 

Permelia, the oldest, was born April 18, 1820, in Gibson 
County, Indiana. She married Henry C. McClure, February 6, 
1842. They now live on the farm settled by her father on the 
east side of Stout's Grove. 

Jacob W. McClure, the second child, was born December 18, 
1821, in what is now Logan County, Illinois. He married Alice 
W. Hall, and now lives in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Charles J. McClure was born February 9, 1824, in Logan 
County. In 1845 he married Serepta Vansickles. He is now 
a farmer, and lives in Hardin County, Iowa. 

Thomas B. McClure, the fourth child, was born September 



454 OLD SETTLERS OF 

15, 1827, in Stout's Grove. He married Emma H. Clark, in 
1850. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Susan J. McClure was born during the winter of 1830 and 
'31, the celebrated winter of the deep snow. She was married 
November 29, 1855, to Robert McClure of St. Louis, Missouri, 
and now lives in Franklin County, Kansas. 

John W. McClure, the youngest child, died in early infancy, 
in Stout's Grove, one year before his father. 

Robert McClure was a finely-formed man. He stood six 
feet and four inches in his boots. He was neither very slim nor 
very corpulent, weighing something more than two hundred 
pounds. His complexion was fair. He had dark auburn hair 
and deep blue eyes. He was very active and possessed of great 
powers of endurance. He was one of the most social and kind 
hearted of men. At a house raising (of a log house, of course, 
they had no other kind in the early days) he always carried up 
his corner; and on all occasions of mirth, jollity, wit and humor, 
he " carried up his corner," too. He had always a flow of soul, 
and not only enjoyed himself, but made all feel happy around 
him. He was remarkable for his generosity, which was mani- 
fest in all the acts and relations of his life. He has often been 
known to take his horses from his plow to accommodate a neigh- 
bor. He was always glad to extend to everyone a generous hos- 
pitality, and in this respect his wife was in no way behind him, 
for it might be said of her that she obeyed the commandment 
to love her neighbor as herself. She was a helpmeet to him in 
the fullest sense of the word, for she never manufactured and 
sold less than one hundred and fifty yards of jeans during each 
year of her married life. In addition to this she made enough 
cloth for use in the family, and a great quantity of bed clothing 
besides. All of her acquaintances were fast friends for life. 

Such is the well-written and entertaining account given by 
Henry C. McClure, of Stout's Grove. The author of this work 
is under many obligations to him as well as to his witty and ac- 
complished lady, a daughter of Robert McClure. 

Jonathan Hodge. 

Jonathan Hodge was born in October, 1791, in North Caro- 
lina. He was of Scotch and German descent. When he was 



m'lban county. 455 

fourteen years of age he came to Barron County, Kentucky. In 
about the year 1812 he married Nancy Berry, a very amiable 
lady, a Virginian by birth and Irish descent. She came to Ken- 
tucky when she was very young. 

In the fall of 1821, Mr. Hodge came to. Sangamon County 
and settled on Fancy Creek. The country was then wild and 
full of ferocious animals, and the adventures and hunting stories 
of the settlers would, if described and written out, fill many 
volumes. At one time, when Mr. Hodge and a man named 
Hains were out hunting bees, they found a panther with her 
cubs concealed in a log. They stopped up the log to prevent 
her from making her escape, and collected a number of men to 
kill the animal. Mr. Hodge cut notches in the log with his axe, 
and when he saw the panther's head through one of the notches 
hit it a blow with the axe and killed it. The panther was large 
and powerful, and measured nine feet from its nose to the end 
of its tail. The party captured the cubs and Mr. Hodge raised 
two of them, until they were partially grown ; but they were a 
little too dangerous as pets and he killed them. Mr. Hodge 
often hunted bees on Fancy Creek with old Shabona, the Potta- 
watomie chief. In the spring of 1827, Mr. Hodge moved to the 
south side of Stout's Grove, in what is now McLean County, 
Illinois, and there made his permanent residence until the time 
of his death. At that time the only settlers in the grove were 
Peyton Mitchel, Ephraim Stout, Robert McClure, Robert Drain 
and Matthew Robb. Mr. Hodge was a farmer, but occasionally 
worked at the carpenter's trade, as the early settlers were obliged 
to be handy at everything. He built a flat-boat at Peoria and 
worked at any remunerative employment, which his hands found 
to do. He was a great hunter and was very successful in his 
excursions after bees, wolves, deer, turkeys, etc. 

Mr. Hodge was once called out during the Black Hawk war 
to go with a friend to his house, which had been vacated from 
fear of the Indians. A party of ten or twelve men went on the 
excursion. They found the house in good order and nothing 
disturbed. They remained over night. During the night they 
heard a log-chain rattle, as if it had been raised up and dropped. 
In the morning the first man who stepped out of doors was shot 
and scalped. Mr. Hodge immediately closed the door and 



456 OLD SETTLERS OF 

guarded it with an axe, but the party within was not again at- 
tacked. They returned to their homes soon after. 

In order to get their grinding done, the settlers used first a 
hand-mill, then they went to Edwardsville, then to Sugar Creek, 
twenty miles south of Stout's Grove. Afterwards Ephraim 
Stout erected a horse-mill at the grove on Sugar Creek. This 
was before mills were built on the Mackinaw. Stout's mill was 
for many years a favorite resort of the settlers every Saturday. 
The3 T met to tell the news to each other and talked over the 
affairs of the neighborhood. 

The first camp-meeting ever held in the grove was about the 
year 1828 or '29. All of the preachers at that camp-meeting 
are now dead, except Neil Johnson, who lives in Oregon. They 
were Peyton Mitchel, James Davis, who died in Hopedale, Taze- 
well County, James McDonald, Archibald Johnson, Neil John- 
son and John Berry of Sangamon County. Archibald Johnson, 
who died in Kansas more than a year ago, taught the first school 
in Stout's Grove. It was held probably in 1828, and was com- 
menced in the spring and ended in the summer. The oldest 
church and oldest Sabbath school were of the denomination of 
the Cumberland Presbyterians. Levi Danlej^, of Danvers, is 
the only man now living, who was a married man in the town- 
ship before the deep snow. 

Mr. Hodge had seven children, of whom four are now living. 
They are : 

Mrs. Sarah Danley, wife of Levi Danley, who lives in Dan- 
vers. She lived for forty years in Princeton, Bureau County, 
and has only lately come to Danvers. 

U. S. Hodge and W. F. Hodge live in Danvers. 

Mrs. Susan Jane Hobson lives in Bourbon County, Kansas. 

Mr. Hodge was a tall, straight-built man, had heavy shoul- 
ders, black hair and dark hazel eyes. He was a very muscular 
man, who always did as he promised ; he took pride in keeping 
his word, and was most sensitive with regard to his honor. He 
was a very kind man and cared very much for his family. He 
always exacted strict obedience from his children, though he 
never used harsh means. He was not a talkative man, though 
he enjoyed company. He was fond of books, and took pleasure 
in reading that book of books, the Bible. 



m'lean county. 457 

Uriah Shelby Hodge. 

Uriah Shelby Hodge was born November 26, 1817, in Barron 
County, Kentucky. He came with the family of his father, 
Jonathan Hodge, to Stout's Grove, in the spring of 1827. There 
he went to school — as a good little boy should — to Archibald 
Johnson. Young Hodge was an apt scholar and learned very 
fast. When he grew up to manhood he became a great hunter 
and had a special knack for catching wolves. He chased them 
with horses, bull-dogs and grey-hounds, and kept fast horses for 
the purpose of hunting. He grew up a farmer, but afterwards 
went into the mercantile business at Danvers and succeeded re- 
markably well. 

On the Fourth of July, 1851, very early in the morning, Mr. 
Hodge married Miss Mary C. Clark, daughter of Henry I. Clark 
of Eureka, and has lived in Danvers ever since. He has a re- 
markably interesting family and enjoys all the pleasures of cul- 
tivated society. 

Mr. Hodge is rather above the medium height, is quite mus- 
cular, and was formerly rather portly ; but somewhat failing 
health has shown its effects. He has been very successful in 
mercantile life, and this has been due to his uprightness. This 
is shown by the fact that he has now the same customers who 
traded at his store when he first began business. 

William Franklin Hodge. 

W. F. Hodge was born August 24, 1824, on Fancy Creek in 
Sangamon County, Illinois. When he was about three years 
old the family of his father, Jonathan Hodge, came to Stout's 
Grove, in what is now McLean County. He was raised a farm- 
er's boy, and continued at hard work until about eight years 
since, when he engaged in mercantile life. The first school he 
attended was kept by Archibald Johnson, but as the youthful 
Hodge was then very small he did not learn much. He attended 
the school kept by Lyman Porter, and continued under various 
teachers until he was twenty years of age. He has a boyish 
recollection of the deep snow, and clearly remembers seeing the 
various domestic animals walking over the stake and rider fences, 
and also remembers the stumps of trees which had been cut for 



458 OLD SETTLERS OF 

firewood during that memorable winter. "When the snow thawed 
away in the spring the stumps appeared six feet high. The deer 
were nearly exterminated, hut the wolves had a happy time and 
could kill all the game they chose. During that winter the 
neighbors all enquired after each other to see that no one suffer- 
ed. A great deal of their stock perished ; the sheep which were 
not brought home in the fall where they could be taken care of, 
were lost. The people during that winter gathered corn in 
sacks which they carried over the snow, but were obliged to feel 
down pretty low for the ears. The crust on the snow became 
so hard that five head of cattle were driven over it from the 
house of a man named Brown to Stout's Grove, a distance of 
five miles. 

Mr. Hodge has hunted a great deal for deer and wolves; was 
accustomed to run them down on horseback. In early days the 
wolves were indeed saucy and dangerous. In about the year 
1831, Mr. Hodge's father and mother were boiling maple sap 
in the south part of Stout's Grove, and in the evening his 
father began to broil some meat over the furnace. Soon the 
prairie wolves and big gray wolves smelt the meat and began 
to gather around and bark. They came thicker and thicker, 
and barked louder and louder. He had a large mastiff which 
was celebrated for its wonderful courage and strength, and 
which could kill any wild animal in the forest ; but the wolves 
gathered around so thick that the mastiff was struck with terror 
and stood trembling. The wolves came so close that their eyes 
could be seen by the light of the fire, and Mr. Hodge grabbed 
his axe for fight. The meat was taken from the fire, wood was 
piled on, and as the flames shot upwards the wolves were fright- 
ened away. 

The sudden change in the weather, which occurred in De- 
cember, 1836, was clearly remembered by young Hodge. During 
that terrible change the chickens and turkeys were frozen fast in 
the congealing slush. 

Mr. Hodge tells some interesting matters concerning the year 
of the floods. In 1844 the rain came in such quantities that it 
seemed for a while that Noah's ark would be needed once more. 
The wheat and corn were drowned out with the exception of a 
very little on the upland. Sugar Creek near Mackinaw timber 



m'lean county. 459 

in Tazewell County, was that year three miles wide. The 
Mackinaw was that year deeper than ever before known by 
white men. The Kickapoo and Salt Creek were eight miles 
apart near Lincoln ; but that year some parties crossed from one 
to another in a canoe. 

But the weather is occasionally like the women (or vice versa), , 
it goes to extremes. The season of the great drowth occurred 
during the year 1855. A great deal of stock then died of thirst. 
The sloughs were so dry that they would not yield water by 
digging. Sugar Creek was dry, of course. During that season 
Mr. Hodge dug out and walled up the Hinshaw spring, which 
was supposed to be perennial, but it yielded so little water that 
but few could get any from it. He hauled water for his stock 
from Barnes Grove, three miles distant. A great deal of water 
was hauled from the Mackinaw, and a great deal of stock was 
driven there. It was during this exceedingly dry season that 
the turf in the bottom land or swamps of Sugar Creek, near 
Mosquito Grove, caught fire and burned for a week or more, 
and the marks of the burning can be seen there to-day. The 
turf was burned out in spots of perhaps thirty by fifty feet ; 
great holes were burned in the ground, and very little vegeta- 
tion has grown there since. (These spots were probably small 
peat beds). It was so dry in the barrens that the timber grass 
would catch fire and burn in the month of July, and also during 
that month he saw grass burn on the upland prairie. 

Mr. Hodge married, May 30, 1850, Emily McClure, daughter 
of Samuel McClure. They have had three children, but all are 
now dead. Mrs. Hodge is a wide-awake lady, and appreciates 
anything witty or pleasant. Mr. Hodge is five feet and nine 
inches and a half in height, and is well proportioned. His eyes 
are gray, and his hair shows a little of the effect of age. He is 
a man of good judgment in business, very cautious, but not too 
much so. His word can be relied on implicitly whether in busi- 
ness matters or in any of the relations of life. He is strictly 
upright in his dealings, and has been very successful in his 
transactions. He takes a great interest in the matters relating 
to the early settlement of the country, and has furnished much 
valuable information concerning- them. 



460 old settlers of 

James Osborne Barnard. 

James O. Barnard was born July 16, 1800, in Iredell County, 
North Carolina. His father's name was Francis Barnard, and 
his mother's name before her marriage was Jane McCord. Jane 
McCord was partly, and perhaps wholly, of Irish descent. 
Francis Barnard was American born, but was of English Quaker 
descent. His father, Francis Barnard, sr., grandfather of James, 
was captain of a whaling vessel. He was at home during the 
Revolutionary war, and did not take part in the contest, as it 
was contrary to his principles to take up arms in any cause. At 
one time the British soldiers came to his house and took him 
prisoner. One of his neighbors was up stairs, but, hearing the 
noise, came down and was also taken. The neighbor was not 
at all alarmed, but said he was willing to go with friend Barnard 
anywhere. They were released after one night's detention. 

But James McCord, the maternal grandfather of James 0. 
Barnard, was a very different man. He was no Quaker ; on the 
contrary, he thought it his duty to harass the British and pick 
off their men. He was not a regular soldier in the American 
army, but he was in every scrimmage in which he could find a 
chance to engage. He was a sharp marksman and picked off 
many a " red-jacket." The British took revenge by sacking his 
house and tearing everything in it to pieces. His wife, Mrs. 
McCord, hid her little baby in the woods, that its cries might 
not be heard, then took the child next oldest, and with it hid 
in the thick pea vines near by. The soldiers utterly ruined 
everything in the house, then went into the milk-house, drank 
some of the milk, and pitched the crocks into the yard. They 
drove off the horses and stock, and everything on the premises 
was in disordered ruin. But James McCord watched for the 
" red-jackets" sharper than ever, and made many of them pay 
with their lives for this destruction of his property. 

Mr. Barnard was a boy during the war of 1812, but he re- 
members one interesting incident which happened while the 
army was becoming organized. He was then living at Wilks- 
borough, North Carolina. A company of soldiers was raised 
there, and one stalwart volunteer changed his mind about going 
and wished to be discharged. In order to bring this. about, he 
cut oft* his toes and brought them to the commanding officer. 



m'lean county. 461 

But this little stratagem was not successful, as he was compelled 
to go along. As the company left the village it came to a steep 
hill, and here the volunteer requested permission to give a part- 
ing yell. It was granted, and he set up a yell which made the 
woods ring and was echoed over the valleys. 

In 1822 the Barnard family moved to Jackson County, Ten- 
nessee, near the mouth of Obey River, where it empties into the 
Cumberland, about one hundred miles above Nashville. Here 
they remained until the year 1828. Mr. Barnard did some 
traveling in Alabama during this period, and visited the cele- 
brated spring at Huntsville. There the water flows from un- 
derneath a large rock, and the aperture is twenty or thirty feet 
wide and from twelve to eighteen inches deep. The water comes 
out with" such force as to drive a large ram, and elevated water 
to supply the town. Mr. Barnard also visited the spring at 
Tuscumbia. This is three times as large as the one at Hunts- 
ville. The aperture, from which the water flows, is fifty or 
sixty feet wide, and from two to three feet in depth. It is really 
a river coming out of the ground. Flat-boats could run up to 
within four miles of where the river gushes out of the rock. 
"When Mr. Barnard visited the spring he saw, about one hundred 
yards from the source, a wheel twenty or thirty feet in diameter. 
The wheel was surrounded by cows' horns attached to the rim 
by staples. As the water pressed against them the wheel was 
made to revolve. The horns were filled with water at every 
revolution, and emptied into a trough, which carried it away 
to supply a brick-yard. 

In 1828 the Barnard family came to Illinois, and arrived in 
what is now McLean County, March 23. They experienced the 
difficulties and trials of the settlers at that early day. James O. 
Barnard laid off the town of Wilkesborough, and was the first 
postmaster there. He was appointed by Postmaster General 
John McLean, under Jackson's administration. Mr. Barnard 
was a farmer, as were most of the old settlers. He was deputy 
sheriff under Martin Scott, the first sheriff of the county after it 
was cut off from Tazewell. Mr. Barnard was also deputy sheriff 
and collector under W. H. Hodge. 

On the 14th of September, 1837, Mr. Barnard married Lydia 
Swallow. He has had two children. They are : 



462 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Jane Ellen, wife of F. M. Hall. 

Nancy Aladelphia, wife of John M. Artis — all live in Wilkes- 
borough. 

Mr. Barnard was rather less than the medium height, was 
slim in build, had gray hair and gray eyes. He was very de- 
cided in his opinions, and was very conscientious in forming 
them. He was a member of the Christian Church of the Re- 
formation. He was a member of the Baptist Church before the 
reformation took place, about forty years ago. He died October 
17, 1873. 

James Gulion Reyburn. 

J. G. Reyburn was born April 15, 1803, in Frankfort, Ken- 
tucky. His father's name was James Reyburn, and his mother's 
name, before her marriage, was Mary Gulion. They were both 
of Irish descent. James Reyburn lived in Frankfort, Kentucky, 
for five years, when he was taken by his parents to Chillicothe, 
Ohio. He there saw the prisoners, who were taken by Commo- 
dore Perry in his victory on Lake Erie. They were kept in a 
fort containing about an acre of land. This fort was called a 
bull-pen. Many women accompanied the soldiers who were 
captured. The prisoners were always anxious to get whisky, 
but none was allowed to be brought in, if the guard knew it. 
But the women sometimes exercised their feminine cunning and 
outwitted the guard, for they were allowed to pass out of the 
fort and back again as often as they chose, and they would 
smuggle the whisky through into the fort by carrying it in blad- 
ders. But the trick was discovered and stopped. When these 
prisoners were taken out to be exchanged, about half of them 
ran away and refused to be returned to their regiments. They 
came back to Chillicothe, but were usually an unreliable class 
of people. 

At the age of eleven or twelve, Mr. Reyburn went into a 
store and acted as a clerk until he was nearly twenty-one years 
old. He then went back to Frankfort, Kentucky, and there sold 
goods until his health failed, when he began teaching school in 
the neighborhood of Paris and Lexington. But he did not 
regain his health until he came to Illinois, to Walnut Grove, 
where he arrived September 28, 1828. He had a pleasant jour- 



m'lean county. 463 

ney on a one-horse wagon. At Walnut Grove he found the 
Harrison family and that of old Charley MoOre and John Camp- 
bell. After staying in the grove only one night, he went on to 
Panther Creek timber and took up a claim where about forty 
Indians were encamped. He remained there two years and 
engaged in farming, but hunted more than he worked. He found 
as many as six bee trees in- one day. At one time, while taking 
up a bee tree in the Mackinaw barrens, an Indian fired the 
grass. The wind was blowing almost a gale from the fire towards 
Mr. Reyburn ; but soon he was discovered by the Indian, who 
made a back fire and prevented a catastrophe. The Indian lit 
the fire to start up the deer. Mr. Reyburn found a great deal 
of honey. He had, at one time, a trough six feet in length and 
eighteen inches in width, and it was full of the finest honey, and 
the honey in the comb was piled up a foot and a half or two 
feet high. It could not be sold for anything, but the wax could 
be traded for tobacco. 

A few days after Mr. Reyburn came to Panther Creek, where 
he killed a deer; he hung it up and the wolves came around. 
He arose to drive them off, but they only came thicker. At last 
he stirred up his fire and drove them back with the brands. 
The game was plenty then. The deer came within fifty yards 
of his house to paw up acorns. During the winter of the deep 
snow he lived on Panther Creek, and frequently fed wild turkeys 
from his window. He had a drove of twenty-five hogs about 
three miles away on Panther Creek, when the heavy snow fell. 
They stayed there within a space thirty feet across, for six week. 
About one-half of them were left in good condition. The larger 
hogs had eaten up the little ones. Mr. Reyburn, with the as- 
sistance of another person, took a yoke of oxen and made a 
path by hitching them to a log and dragging it through the 
snow. The hogs followed in single file. Mr. Reyburn thinks 
the winter of the deep snow one of the pleasantest he ever spent. 
He had plenty of wood, as he could cut trees at his very door, 
and he had plenty to eat, and enjoyed himself finely. 

The county of Tazewell had various expenses, which had to 
be met, and soon the assessor and tax collector made their ap- 
pearance. Mr. Reyburn paid his first tax in 1830, and it 
amounted to forty-five cents. The receipt, which was given 



464 OLD SETTLERS OP 

him, was written on a slip of paper about seven-eighths of an 
inch in width and three and three-fourths inches long. It 
reads : 

"Rec'd of James G Raborn $0.45 in ful for his county tax for 
the year 1830. 

George U. Miles, D for 

Philip B. Miles. S. T. C." 

Mr Reyburn thought the tax very heavy at the time, but 
raised the money and paid it. 

Mr. Reyburn sold his claim on Panther Creek, but remained 
until the Spring of 1832, when he bought a claim at Walnut 
Grove. 

During that year he enlisted in Captain McClure's company 
and went to the Black Hawk war. He went first to Pekin 
and from there to Dixon's Ferry. After the affair at Stillman's 
Run he went up with the army to bury the dead, then went to 
Ottawa and from there to Indian Grove on Indian Creek where 
he helped to bury the families of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew, 
who were murdered by the Indians. The latter had mutilated 
the bodies terribly and the inside of the house looked like a 
slaughter pen. About sixteen persons were killed. Two boys 
out in the field escaped, and two girls were taken prisoners. 
The corpses were buried in a long pit. All but two of them 
had been partially buried by the time the soldiers arrived. The 
latter returned to Ottawa, built a fort and were shortly afterwards 
disbanded and sent home. On his return from the Black Hawk 
war Mr. Reyburn was married to Tabitha Blair. Before this 
important event took place he sold his gun to John T. Stuart, 
of Springfield, resolved to abandon hunting and remain at work. 
He moved to Stout's Grove in January, 1837, a few days after 
the celebrated sudden change in the weather, which happened 
the December before. He then sold groceries at Stout's 
Grove. In 1838 he came to what was then called Concord, but 
now is called Danvers, and there sold goods until 1852, and 
then was out of business for several years. 

As the West was a wild country, many of the dangerous classes 
came to it from the East for a refuge. The people of the coun- 
try around Mosquito Grove were troubled by a gang of counter- 
feiters, horse thieves and murderers, from about the year 1836 



m'lean county. 465 

to the year 1844. This was a gang of three men, Grant Reddon 
and his two sons Jack and Harrison. The country was very 
much disturbed b}- the depredations of these men. Horses were 
stolen and many crimes committed. At one time two peddlers, 
who were brothers, started out from Peoria. One of them came 
to Mosquito Grove and was never heard of more. His brother 
traced him that far, but could find his track no farther. The 
Reddens used the goods, which belonged to the missing ped- 
dler, and the belief of foul play was wide-spread. Neverthe- 
less people were so much afraid of the Reddons that active 
measures were not taken. Jack Reddon was one of the gang 
who murdered Colonel Davenport, at Rock Island, many years 
ago. At last the citizens rose, took their rifles, went to the 
Reddons' house and made them flee the country. 

In about the year 1862 Mr. Reyburn moved to his farm, but 
came back to Danvers in 1865, and has lived there ever since, 
a part of the time engaged in selling goods. The early settlers 
were unused to fine dresses, as may be supposed, but they could 
dress in buckskin, which appeared very becoming. Mr Rey- 
burn says that the finest suit of clothes he ever wore, were made 
by himself of buckskin and sewed with a whang. After awhile 
the woven goods of the East began to be worn. Mr. Reyburn 
tells of the wonderful effect produced by a calico dress worn by 
a certain Miss Ellis to church. She was a great belle for a 
while and her dress caused a great sensation. A certain Ben 
Conger heard of this dress and went to church to see it, and on 
his return was in ecstacies of delight, and said it was blue calico 
with a lot of white specks — never was anything so beautiful. 

Mr. Rev burn's wife died, and he married Mrs. Williams, a 
widow. He has four children living. They are : 

Sarah Ann, wife of Henry Swope, Ellen, wife of George 
Buna, and Maggie, wife of C. C. Rowell, who all live in Dan- 
vers. James Reyburn, a son, lives in Bloomington. 

Mr. Reyburn is a cheerful old gentleman. He is rather be- 
low the medium stature, was once ver} 7 active and tough, and 
could endure many hardships. He is slightly built, wears 
glasses, but appears in good health. He takes great interest in 
the events of the early settlement. He is a man of much natural 
shrewdness and seems to have succeeded well in life. 
30 



466 old settlers of 

Levi Danley. 

Levi Danley was born April 4, 1803, in Clark County, Ken- 
tucky. His father, Samuel Danley, was of Irish descent, and 
his mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Ele, was, he 
thinks, of Scotch descent. She was born in Virginia. Her 
parents moved from there to Kentucky at an early day. Samuel 
Danley, his father, was probably born in Kentucky. When 
Levi Danley was very young, he went with his father's family to 
Fleming County, Kentucky, where he lived until the year 1817. 
He lived in the extreme southeastern part of the county. The 
country was very rough and mountainous and sparsely settled. 
He went to school there and was a pretty attentive scholar. 
Although he received very little education, he did not allow 
many of the scholars to get the start of him in his studies, while 
he could attend school. In 1817, in the fall, the Danley family 
came from Fleming County, Kentucky, to Illinois. They came 
with a four-horse team, bringing along their cattle and hogs. 
Their journey was a hard one, as they were interrupted by snow, 
rain and mud, and could find but little to eat on the road, after 
they passed Shawneetown. They crossed the Ohio River at 
Shawneetown, and went from there to a place about nine miles 
west of Carlisle, and halted on Shoal Creek, where they arrived 
sometime near Christmas. They made their winter quarters 
with a man named Eades, and in the spring they built a cabin 
and cleared some land, for which they were allowed the first 
crop as pay. Young Levi hunted during the first winter of their 
arrival and killed prairie chickens. Daring the following winter 
he became old enough to kill deer. 

During the second spring of their arrival Mr. Samuel Danley 
and young Levi and his brother-in-law went up to what is now 
Sangamon County, and made a small improvement. They made 
a pole camp, covered with elm bark like an Indian wigwam. 
His brother-in-law, Isaac Myers, moved up there in the fall, and 
the Danley family followed in the spring. 

In 1827, a few years before the Black Hawk war, a great ex- 
citement was raised at Galena, and the settlers there feared an 
Indian war, and volunteers were called for. Mr. Danley volun- 
teered to go, and enlisted in a body of men commanded by 



m'lean county. 467 

Colonel Neal of Springfield. They went to White Oak Springs, 
some six or eight miles this side of Galena. There Mr. Danley 
was taken sick and did not enjoy the excursion at all. The scare 
of the settlers soon ceased, and the company returned. Mr. 
Danley thinks Galena was then almost as'hard a place as Sodom 
and Gomorrah, for the principal occupation of the people was 
gambling and drinking. 

Mr. Danley saw many Indians, and often traded and ran 
foot-races with them, and wrestled and engaged in other athletic 
sports, for which the Indians and early settlers were remark- 
able. 

Mr. Danley lived in Sangamon County until February, 1829, 
when he came to Stout's Grove, in the east end, in what is now 
McLean, but then was Tazewell County, Illinois. The land in 
Illinois came into market during October, 1829, and then he 
bought the farm, where he settled and made his permanent 
home, and which he owns at the present time. 

Mr. Danley married Margaret McClure of Stout's Grove, in 
November, 1827. He was then living in Sangamon County, and 
did not come to Stout's Grove until February, 1829, as stated. 

The settlers usually complain of the hardships of the winter 
of the deep snow; but Mr. Danley says he never spent such a 
happy winter before or since. He had luckily gathered his corn, 
and his house was set in order. He had no work to do, had 
plenty of corn, honey, milk and venison, and lived a jolly life. 
On the day before the deep snow fell, he and his two brothers- 
in-law killed seven deer, but the snow covered them, and the 
hunters only succeeded in bringing in two of them. The severe 
winter killed off the deer and stopped Mr. Danley's fun in hunt- 
ing, but a few years afterwards they again became numerous. 

In 1832, when the Black Hawk war broke out, Mr. Danley 
enlisted in the company commanded by Robert McClure as 
captain, and John H. S. Rhodes as first lieutenant. They went 
first to Pekin, from there to Peoria, and up to Dixon's Ferry, on 
the usual course. They arrived at Dixon's Ferry in the even- 
ing, and about midnight the soldiers began to come in from 
Stillman's Run. Mr. Danley was acquainted with manv of them, 
and saw them just before they went from McLean County. At 
that time they were in high feather, and were talking of what 



468 OLD SETTLERS OF 

they were going to do. Some were going to have a feather from 
old Black Hawk, and some were going to do something else ; 
but at midnight, when they came back from Stillman's Run, 
Mr. Danley says he heard no more talk of capturing Black 
Hawk's feathers. But though the men were frightened, the}^ 
nearly all claimed to have killed two or three Indians, and if 
their accounts had been correct, none of Black Hawk's men 
would have been living. The next morning the company to 
which Mr. Danley belonged was attached to the spy battalion, 
commanded (he thinks) by Major (afterwards General) Henry. 
The whole army moved forward up to the scene of the previous 
day's scrimmage. The spy battalion was drilled to dismount 
on meeting the enemy, and a few were to hold the horses, while 
the remainder went ahead into the tight. They found and buried 
the dead, both Indians and whites. The latter were fearfully 
mutilated and cut to pieces. Two of the Indians, who were 
killed, were found tied to a tree, and an Indian interpreter said 
that this was to indicate that the Indians would be as firm as 
that tree. They went back to Dixon's Ferry on the following 
day, and from there two or three companies went to Ottawa, as 
the people at the latter place wished for a guard. A man, named 
Walker, had been sent from Ottawa to Dixon's Ferry for assist- 
ance. Mr. Dane's company and one or two others, he thinks, 
went to Ottawa. Before they reached that place, they learned 
of the massacre of the families of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew on 
Indian Creek, and the next day, after getting some rations, went 
to the scene of the murder. There, Mr. Danley says, they found 
the families buried in a long hole, but the dirt over them was 
very shallow. They took up the bodies and re-buried them, 
separating the families as well as they could by the assistance of 
two young men, who succeeded in getting away, but who be- 
longed to one of the murdered families. From there the soldiers 
returned to Ottawa, where they were not long afterwards dis- 
charged and sent home. 

When the sudden change in the weather occurred in Decem- 
ber, 1836, Mr. Danley was going into Pekin with a drove of 
hogs, and succeeded in taking them there ; but his yoke of oxen 
could not be taken back home for six weeks, on account of the 
slippery condition of the roads, for the whole country was a 



m'lean county. 469 

glace of ice. Mr. Danley has led the life of a hard working 
farmer, and has had no particular adventures since the Black 
Hawk war. 

He has six children living. George W. Danley lives in Jas- 
per County, Missouri. 

Benjamin Franklin Danley lives near the northwest corner 
of Dry Grove. 

Samuel Danley lives in Jasper County, Missouri. 

James H. Danley lives at Lincoln, Logan County, Illinois. 

John T. Danley lives in the southeastern edge of Stout's 
Grove. 

Hardin Danley lives on the old homestead at Stout's Grove. 

Mr. Danley is a little more than five feet in height, is very 
quick and strong. He is very anxious to see things done right, 
and seems particularly anxious that the items, which he has fur- 
nished, shall be correctly stated, and that no mistake shall be 
made about them. He is very careful in all his affairs, and has 
been very successful in life. His life has been very regular. He 
has not, since coming to Illinois, taken a drink of liquor, has 
never drank a glass of beer or smoked a segar or taken a chew 
of tobacco. His rising hour, for nearly forty years, while work- 
ing a farm, was four o'clock; before that time he had no clock, 
and often arose and hunted his oxen, went two miles to the 
timber and returned with a load of rails by sunrise. 

The Conger Family. 

The following incidents relating to the Conger family are 
written by Miss Emma Conger, the daughter of Robert Conger, 
deceased, one of the earliest settlers at Stout's Grove. 

Isaac Conger, an only son, was born in England, emigrated 
to America when young, and settled near Mammoth Cave, Ken- 
tucky. He married Susan Barnett, and they had four sons, 
Jonathan, Robert, Benjamin and Nicholas. In 1829 the family 
emigrated to Illinois and settled at Stout's Grove, in what is 
now McLean County, Illinois. Isaac Conger and his wife died 
soon after coming here, at the age of eighty-three. Jonathan, 
Robert and Nicholas Conger made farms adjoining each other. 
Jonathan married Lydia Howell, and they lived at Stout's Grove 
until the year 1848. Then they went to Iowa, again to endure 



470 OLD SETTLERS OF 

the hardships of a frontier life. Jonathan Conger died in 1856. 
His neighbors in McLean County tell a story of him, which 
shows the condition of things in the early days. He went on 
horseback to Bowling Green after a sack of salt. The wolves 
chased him, and he made as good time as some of the brave 
soldiers in the Black Hawk war. When he had nearly reached 
home, he said to one of his neighbors, " I tell you, they were 
coming, and oh! they looked so savage — I barely escaped with 
my life !" His fright was the subject of much merriment, for 
the old settlers did not fear the wolves, and were anxious only 
to catch them. 

Benjamin Conger was a great hunter. One day while out in 
the grove he saw several deer coming towards him. As he had 
no gun with him he concealed himself behind a tree. When 
they passed him he threw his knife with all force and killed one 
of then instantly. 

Nicholas Conger improved his farm and built what was 
considered a nice house in those days. He was to have been 
married shortly afterwards, but was taken sick and died. This 
was in the year 1840. He was an industrious and promising 
young man and a good citizen. 

Robert Conger, my father, married ISTancy Howell, my mother, 
in the year 1836. He lived for thirty years on the farm, which 
he first improved in Stout's Grove. He died in the year 1860, 
at the age of fifty-six, leaving a wife and nine children, three 
sons and six daughters. 

My father was an old school-mate of Abraham Lincoln in 
Kentucky, and my mother also attended school with Lincoln 
near Springfield, Illinois. When I was quite a little girl I was 
with father in Bloomington when he met Mr. Lincoln. The 
latter said : " How d'you do, Bob?" Father then told me that 
Lincoln was a lawyer in Springfield, and that he was a good 
man. 

Father once told me of Ephraim Stout, the man from whom 
Stout's Grove took its name. Shortly after my father's arrival 
in the country he happened to be at Mr. Stout's cabin in the 
evening at supper time. Their table had no cloth on it, nothing 
but pewter plates and some mush and milk, which the family 



m'lean county. 471 

were eating. The old gentleman was on the hearth eating with 
a large iron spoon out of a kettle. 

After the death of my father our family continued to live at 
the home place. Five years after his death my mother and one 
of my sisters died. The family remained together two years 
longer. Then our house caught fire and burned to the ground, 
and the family separated. The associations of our early home 
in McLean County, have made it very dear to us all. It was 
there we listened to our parents as they told us the hardships of 
their early lives. I have often heard my mother speak of her 
fear of the Indians ; but she would add, that notwithstanding 
all her trials, those early days were full of happiness. It was 
great sport for her to go to the sugar camp and help make 
maple sugar, and eat it, too, I suppose. She would tell how she 
spun her dozen cuts of yarn in one day and did her housework 
besides. Some young ladies would blush to tell this of their 
mothers, but I refer to it with pride, for labor was no disgrace 
in those days and ought not to be now. 

Such is the entertaining and very pretty account of the Con- 
ger family, given by Miss Conger ; and we are sure our readers 
would be glad to have many such. This family was among the 
earliest and most respected at Stout's Grove, and among the best 
known in this section of the country. 

Israel W. Hall. 

Israel W. Hall was born February 5, 1799, in Salem, Rock- 
ingham County, New Hampshire. His father's name was Joseph 
Hall, and his mother's maiden name was Hester Woodbury. 
They were both of English descent. Israel W. Hall became a 
shoemaker by trade. In 1834 he came to the west and settled 
where now the town of Danvers stands, in McLean County, 
Illinois. He started for the West from Nashua, New Hampshire, 
traveled by canal and steamboat to Detroit, Michigan, there 
bought a team, and came to McLean County, Illinois. In about 
the year 1835, Mr. Hall and Matthew Robb laid off the town of 
Concord, (now Danvers.) The village settled up slowly. Mr. 
Hall was a justice of the peace, and the first postmaster of the 
place. The office was called Stout's Grove Postoffice, but was 
changed to Danvers, which became the name of the village. The 



472 OLD SETTLERS OF 

postoffice was not established until 1848 or '49, because of a 
postoffice at the neighboring town of Wilkesborough. Mr. 
Hall was a member of the Methodist Church, and for fifteen 
years his house was a preaching place for that denomination. 
Rev. Zadoc Hall was one of the early preachers, who held meet- 
ings there. 

On the 27th of April, 1834, Israel W. Hall married Polly 
Stickney in Salem, X. H. Pie had three children, all of whom 
are living. They are : 

Alice W., wife of Jacob McClure, lives at St. Louis, Mo. 

Otis T. Hall lives on the homestead place in Danvers. 

Cynthia H., wife of John Morrison, lives on a part of the 
homestead farm. 

Mr. Hall was about five feet and eight inches in height. He 
was a good man, honest and fair-minded, and had the respect of 
his neighbors. He died January 3, 1865. 

Jeremiah S. Hall. 

Jeremiah S. Hall, brother of Israel W. Hall, was born April 
21, 1809, in Salem, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. He 
lived in his native village until the age of seventeen, when he 
went to Boston, to learn the bricklayer's trade. He was in that 
city when the great celebration of 1826 occurred, making the 
fifteenth anniversary of American independence. The exercises 
were held on Boston common, and an immense crowd was in at- 
tendance. On that day John Adams said in the morning : " I 
have lived to see another fourth of July." But before the day 
was ended the bells of Boston were tolling for his death. On 
that day also, another Ex-President, Thomas Jefferson, died ; 
but, as the telegraph was then unknown, the news did not reach 
Boston until the middle of the week. 

Mr. Hall remained in Boston for three summers, working at 
the brick-layer's trade, and also in a shoe-factory. He worked 
in various towns in New England. On the 16th of October, 
1834, he started for Illinois. He came from Nashua, N". H., to 
Troy, N. Y., by stage, and thence to Buffalo by canal. From 
the latter place they started on board of a steamboat for Detroit, 
Michigan. They were delayed by a severe storm, and Mrs. Hall 
had an experience with sea sickness which she 3 T et remembers. 



m'lean county. 473 

At Detroit they took stage for Chicago, traveling through mud 
and water, and after a fearful ride arrived at their destination 
November 7. After a short stay at Chicago he came to McLean 
County, arriving in December. He traveled here in his own 
wagon. His family boarded for a while with Mr. Francis Bar- 
nard at Dry Grove. Mr. Hall soon went to farming just west 
of where he now lives, in the edge of the village of Danvers. 
His was one of the first prairie farms, and he was much ridiculed 
for leaving the timber ; but he held to the land, and it is now 
worth sixty-five dollers per acre. 

In September, 1844, Mr. Hall met with a strange accident, 
which has puzzled the physicians. While riding through tim- 
ber and under brush he had a thorn pressed into the joint of 
the middle finger of his right hand. The thorn was removed 
but a part of the point remained. The finger became so much 
inflamed that Mr. Hall was thrown into spasms of pain, and he 
narrowly escaped lock-jaw. The finger was amputated, but he 
has never entirely recovered. His nervous system received so 
severe a shock that at the present time he is liable to become 
stiff and rigid when any undue excitement occurs, or when he 
falls into any unusual attitude. His case is a puzzle to the doc- 
tors, who disagree concerning it. 

On the 24th of April, 1832, Mr. Hall married Miss Jane 
Combs in Nashua, New Hampshire. They have had five chil- 
dren, of whom three are living. They are : 

Hannah, Wilburn and George. The two latter are married 
and George lives in Nebraska. The eldest son, Edward W. 
Hall was killed in the army at Jackson, Mississippi. He was 
first lieutenant of Company B, 3d Iowa, but at the time of his 
death was in command of Company I. He was wounded and 
captured, and died a few hours after. The fight was known as 
Lau man's unsuccessful charge. 

Jeremiah Hall is about five feet and ten inches in height, is 
stoutly built and has a sanguine complexion. He is healthy in 
his appearance, but his nerves are shattered by the severe pain 
of which an account is given above. He appears to be a man 
of correct judgment, and is faithful to his trust. His head is 
partially bald, and he seems to have a good development of 
brain. His eyes have a clear, pretty expression when he is 



474 OLD SETTLERS OF 

amused, and he is usually pleased at any kind of burlesque. 
He wishes it understood that he has never been a fisherman, a 
hunter, or an office-seeker, but has succeeded well. He is a 
substantial American citizen. 

John Hay. 

John Hay was born March 18, 1797, in Washington County, 
Virginia, near Abington. His father's name was Peter Hay 
and his mother's name was Elizabeth Finley. Peter Hay was 
born and raised in Boston and was of Scotch-Irish descent. 
Elizabeth Finley was of the same descent, but was born and 
raised in Virginia. Peter Hay was not old enough to take part 
in the Revolutionary war, but his eldest brother was a soldier in 
the Continental army. His father's orchard, near Charlestown, 
was destroyed by the British. 

John Hay lived only four years in Virginia, where he was 
born. In about the year 1801 the family moved to Logan 
County Kentucky. They lived there and in Todd County until 
about the year 1819, when they moved to Christian County. 
Nothing of importance happened there except that at one time 
the people were universally alarmed lest the negroes should rise 
in insurrection. In the spring of 1834 he came to McLean 
County and bought land, but did not move out his family until 
the spring of 1835. He settled on the farm where John Short- 
hoes now lives, near Wilkesborough, in the present township 
of Dry Grove. 

Mr. Hay has experienced the hardships of the old settlers, 
and has enjoyed their sports. He remembers particularly of a 
grand hunt in which the settlers from all over the country par- 
ticipated. Some of the hunters ran down a deer about four 
miles north of Bloomington, tied it to the tail of a roan horse 
belonging to Dr. John F. Henry and brought it home in tri- 
umph. 

On the 25th of October, 1821, Mr. Hay married Celia Kille- 
brew. By this marriage nine children were born and three are 
living. They are : 

Samuel F. Hay, who lives just west of his father's in Dan- 
vers township. 



m'lean county. 475 

Peter G. Hay, who lives in Tazewell County, just across the 
line from McLean. 

Susan G., wife of George Moe, lives with her father. She 
is a remarkably pleasant and entertaining lady, and everyone 
in her presence feels the effect of her good nature and her hap- 
py spirits. 

Mrs. Hay died August 9, 1840. On the 19th of October, 
1841, Mr. Hay married Sarah A. Daniel. By this marriage he 
had two children, of whom one is living. She is AphiaK. Hay, 
and lives at home with her father. 

On the 21st of February, 1860, Mr. Hay married Mrs. Cyn- 
thia Howell, of Danvers township, who died November 6, 1866. 
No children by this marriage. 

Mr. Hay is about five feet and ten inches in height. He has 
a full face with a complexion somewhat sanguine. His hair is 
white and his eyes are gray. He is a man of the best of feel- 
ing and the kindest of manner. He is careful and straight- 
forward in all things, and is anxious to do only what is fair with 
his neighbors. He seems to have been successful in his financial 
matters. 

Geokge F. Hay. 

George F. Hay, brother of John Hay, was born September 
18, 1814, in Todd County, Kentucky. In about the year 1819, 
the family moved to Christian County, just west, and there lived 
until George Hay came farther west. Mr. Hay received his 
common education in Kentucky. For a while he attended a 
grammar school, which was conducted on the Lancasterian plan. 
By this plan the teacher parsed the words and the scholars re- 
peated his parsing. After teaching grammar for sixty days he 
warranted all his scholars perfect. He had a great examination 
at the close of the school, and the whole neighborhood was ex- 
cited and glad to learn that the children understood grammar. 
Mr. Hay took quite an interest in mathematics, studied survey- 
ing and obtained a very good common education. He tells of a 
queer adventure in which he was engaged while attending a 
school at Bluewater, Kentucky. The streams of water in that 
region of country often ran under ground, and were carried 
along on beds of rock below the surface. Sometimes they 



476 OLD SETTLERS OF 

formed by this means extended caverns through the rocks. One 
of these streams ran under the ground near Bluewater Spring, 
where Mr. Hay attended school. But sometimes the under- 
ground stream became so full of water that it would gush up 
and flow over the ground for a long distance. At other seasons 
of the year the underground stream had very little water in it, 
and the opening then became an extended cave with a rivulet 
running through it. Mr. Hay and a companion once went 
a quarter of a mile through the cave formed by this under- 
ground stream. They took a lantern with them and traveled 
over rocks and through crevices with the water plashing by 
their sides. At last they saw daylight streaming down from the 
opening near the Bluewater Spring. As they came up they 
found the teacher of the school and many of the scholars wait- 
ing for them ; for the determination of these adventurous youths 
to explore the underground water course had become known. 
The teacher put a stop to any further expeditions. 

In 1834 Mr. Hay came to Illinois and arrived at Walnut 
Grove, in what was then McLean County, on the 20th of Octo- 
ber. This grove is now included in Woodford County. On the 
13th of April following Mr. Hay came to Dry Grove. In Feb- 
ruary, 1836, he was made Deputy Surveyor under Major Dicka- 
son. He surveyed a great many little towns, laid out Miller's 
addition to Bloomington, and also Foster's and White's addi- 
tions. The difficulties of surveying in the early days were 
great, for it was hard to move from point to point. The streams 
were often swollen and the crossings were usually fords. Mr. 
Hay was once with a party of surveyors on the north of the 
Mackinaw. A heavy rain suddenly fell, and that treacherous 
stream became high. The party returned in a canoe by making 
many trips, and their horses swam. When Mr. Hay was on his 
way to ]ny off' Miller's addition to Bloomington he found the 
streams high, the bridges overflowed and some of the planks 
floated off. He walked over the bridges, pressing down the 
floating planks, stepping over the open spaces and holding the 
halter of his horse as the animal swam across below. It was 
Mr. Hay's duty to attend to all surveying between ranges one 
and two east of the third principal meridian. 



m'lean county. 477 

Mr. Hay tells a curious circumstance concerning the sudden 
change of December, 1836, which has never before been related. 
He prepared a place for his pigs to sleep, about forty or fifty 
rods from where they were fed. When the sudden change came 
they started for their bed, but some of them froze to death in 
the path on the way. Mr. Hay rode three miles, after the sud- 
den change took place, but he had the wind to his back and did 
not sutler so much in consequence. A traveler who was caught out 
in that sudden change walked a mile, and arrived at Peter Mc- 
Cullough's house in Dry Grove. The ice collected on him, as 
the freezing water and slush splashed up, and his parts were so 
stiffened that he moved with difficulty. 

When the country in the West became so settled that plenty 
of wheat and corn was raised, the sandhill cranes became nu- 
merous. Mr. Hay was once crossing the prairie towards White 
Oak Grove, when he saw a young crane, and attempted to catch 
it. But the old birds defended it so vigorously that he gave it 
up as a bad job. Their appearance is fierce, and their sharp 
bills and long necks make them dangerous when wounded or 
while defending their young. 

Mr. Hay has been on many hunting expeditions, as all settlers 
have, and has seen the dangers of the chase. William McCul- 
lough was once chasing a wolf, when his horse stepped into a 
gopher's hole, and the fall broke the animal's neck. 

On the 17th of March, 1836, Mr. Hay married Elizabeth Ann 
McCullough, daughter of Peter McCullough, the first permanent 
settler in Dry Grove. She is a lady of fine feeling. They have 
had one child, Elizabeth Lavina, wife of John W. Owen. She 
lives a quarter of a mile east of her father's, on the old Surface 
farm adjoining Wilkesborough. 

Mr. Hay is a man of the kindest disposition and the strictest 
integrity. He is about five feet and a half in height, has a 
heavy head of hair, is sparse in build, but healthy and active. 
He seems to have had fair success in the world. He takes 
pleasure in exercising that hospitality for which the old settlers 
are distinguished. 



478 old settlers of 

Jonathan Bond Warlow. 

Jonathan B. Warlow was born June 27, 1814, in Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts. His father's name was Benjamin Warlow, 
and his mother's name, before her marriage, was Elizabeth Bond. 
They were partly of English descent. Benjamin Warlow was 
a bootmaker by trade. He served his apprenticeship, which 
was seven years and six months, in the city of New York, but 
as soon as it was ended he went off as a sailor on the ocean. He 
married Elizabeth Bond in Boston. During the war of 1812 he 
was drafted and sent to Montreal, but was never in any engage- 
ment. In March, 1817, he went to Oneida County, New York, 
where he engaged in the work of making fine boots. He was 
not " well-to-do" in the world, and wished to make some change 
to better his condition. Before he went to New York city, at 
one time, he had his fortune told, and it was predicted that he 
would emigrate to the West and do well. He went home and 
considered the matter seriously. His brother wished him to go 
to New York city. Benjamin Warlow packed up his goods to 
go to New York city or the West — he knew not which. He 
waited for two weeks for some word from his brother ; at last 
he placed a stick upright on the ground, and resolved to go 
whichever way it fell. This was on the bank of the Erie canal. 
It struck the ground on the western side. Soon afterwards a 
canal boat came along and he loaded on his goods and started 
for the great West. He had sixty dollars when he started. 
When he arrived at Painesville, Ohio, he had only thirty-seven 
and a half cents. He commenced chopping wood, and hired 
out his boys for thirty-seven and a half cents per day. There 
they were joined by Joshua Bond, a brother of Mrs. Warlow. 
After remaining for three months they all went to Pickaway 
County, where Mr. Bond bought a farm and Mr. Warlow worked 
it. Joshua Bond was a bachelor. He taught music and danc- 
ing, was as polite as a Frenchman, made a great deal of money 
and spent it freely. He usually went south during the winter 
and came up to Ohio and stayed with the Warlows during the 
summer. In 1834 the Warlow family came to Illinois with two 
wagons. One was drawn by a span of horses, and the other was 
drawn by a yoke of muley cattle and a span of horses on the 



m'lean county. 479 

lead. There were ten in the party : Mr. and Mrs. Warlow and 
their six children, and Joshua Bond and his hired man. They 
camped out only once, about six miles this side of the Sanga- 
mon River. There they had two crackers for supper and one 
cracker a piece in the morning. They came on to Bloomington, 
where they arrived at three o'clock in the afternoon. It was 
then a very insignificant little place. The tavern was kept by a 
man named Caleb. No bell or gong was kept, but a steel bar 
was suspended by a string, and each morniug the servant girl 
beat it with her pot-hooks to call up the boarders. Mr. Bond 
bought two hundred acres of land for one thousand dollars, and 
entered eighty acres more. On this land Mr. Warlow, sr., lived 
for two years, and then moved to land of his own, in what is now 
Allin township, immediately west of Richard A. Warlow's resi- 
dence. He bought of Joshua Bond eighty acres of timber land 
in Brown's Grove. This was land which Bond had entered on 
his arrival. It was situated in the middle of the grove. It 
seems that the settlers, who had come in, entered land around 
the grove, but forbore to enter this, as they all used timber from 
it at Uncle Sam's expense. Warlow bought it of Bond for four 
dollars per acre. 

Jonathan Warlow attended at Dry Grove a school taught by 
Milton Williams. The scholars all studied aloud and shouted 
their lessons, while the schoolmaster read his paper and smoked 
his pipe by the fire. Mr. Warlow has seen the difficulties and 
troubles of the early settlers. He sold pork in Pekin for one 
dollar and a quarter per hundred, and took his pay in trade, but 
was not allowed to take all his trade in groceries. He was often 
obliged to live for long periods on corn and potatoes, as it was 
impossible sometimes to get grinding done. He has also made 
the usual trips to Chicago, where he sold wheat for forty-five 
cents per bushel. 

He married, November 15, 1838, Catherine Bartlett Hay, 
who came from Christian County, Kentucky, with her brother, 
John Hay. Mr. and Mrs. Warlow live in Dan vers township. 
They have had eight children, of whom six are living, five 
daughters and one son. 

Elizabeth Warlow lives at home with her parents. 

Mary M., wife of Jesse Braiuard, lives in Dry Grove. 



480 OLD SETTLERS OF 

George L., Celia Jane, Adelpha P. B. and Ida Catherine 
Warlow, the baby, all live at home. 

Mr. Warlow is about five feet and eleven inches in height. 
His hair is white, and stands up from his head. He has a promi- 
nent nose and light gray eyes. He has rather a sanguine tem- 
perament, and he likes to tell funny things. He has been very 
successful in life and is hospitable and kind. 

DOWN'S TOWNSHIP. 

Lawson Downs. 

Lawson Downs was born about the year 1809, near Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, where he lived until he was nine years of age. 
Then his parents moved to White County, Illinois, and there 
Lawson Downs remained until he was grown. In the year 1829 
he came to McLean County, Illinois, and entered his land in the 
present township of Downs. He was accustomed to raise pigs 
in the timber, which were so wild, that when he fattened them, 
he threw down corn and went away, or they would never eat it. 
When they were fat he hunted them with his rifle and shot 
them in the timber. 

During the winter of the deep snow Lawson Downs had his 
sheep covered by the snow, but he found them by looking for 
the holes which their breath melted up through the crust. In 
order to get wood during that memorable winter, he was obliged 
to shovel his way to a tree, cut it down and haul it in with 
oxen. , 

Lawson Downs served in the Black Hawk war, having been 
out thirty days under Covel. For this service he afterwards ob- 
tained a warrant for a quarter section of land. He sold the 
warrant cheap and never located the land. 

Lawson Downs and Henry Jacoby hauled goods to Bloom- 
ington, for James Allin, at an early day. It was great work 
and small pay. It was very hard, in early days, to earn a little 
money, but it would buy a great deal. One dollar and a 
quarter would buy an acre of land. 

The prairie grass in the early days was as high as a man's 
head while riding on horseback. While hunting for game, the 
dogs, being down on the ground, could not see far. Mr. Downs 



m'lean county. 481 

hunted with a greyhound belonging to Henry Jacoby. Downs 
would look ahead and see the wolf or deer running through the 
grass, and would tell the hound to jump on the horse. It would 
do so, and Downs would point out the game. The dog would 
immediately take after it, and was sure to bring it down. 

Mr. Downs was something of a hunter. He hunted bees in 
the fall, and he trapped otter on the Kickapoo. He often trap- 
ped wolves. At one time he found in his trap not one of the 
large wolves, but one of his neighbors' black hogs. This was, 
indeed, " catching the wrong pig by the ear." 

During the sudden change in December, 1836, many of Mr. 
Downs' sheep and hogs froze fast in the slush, and many chick- 
ens had their feet frozen in it. 

Lawson Downs was married in 1836 to Sarah Welch. He 
had nine children, all boys, six of whom grew up to manhood. 
They are : 

William G. Downs, who lives near Paoli in Miami County, 
Kansas. He is rather a large, fine-looking man. During the 
war he was a captain in the Thirty-ninth Illinois Infantry. 

George W. Downs now lives at Diamond Grove. He is a 
man of medium stature, has black hair and dark, expressive 
eyes. He served three years during the war as a private in the 
Ninety-fourth Illinois. 

John D. Downs is a man of medium size and light com- 
plexion. He was not old enough to get into the army. He lives 
about three miles south of Gillem Station in Downs township. 

Solomon F. Downs lives near Cheney's Grove. 

Albert P. and Alfred E. Downs live with their brother George 
at Diamond Grove. 

Lawson Downs was slenderly built, and had a dark though 
rather sanguine complexion. He was rather slow to make up 
his mind, but when he had it once made up it was not easily 
changed. He was universally respected as an honest, upright 
citizen, and the township of Downs was named after him. Pie 
was no respecter of persons, except as they deserved respect by 
their ability or goodness of heart. He died September 7, 1860. 



31 



482 old settlers of 

William Weaver. 

William Weaver was born February 10, 1783, in Lee Coun- 
ty, Virginia. He was of English descent. His father came 
from England at a very early day, and was a soldier in the Rev- 
olutionary war and served under General Green. 

William Weaver received the little education he had at 
home. When he grew to manhood he made a profession of re- 
ligion and became a Baptist preacher. In the fall of 1831 he 
came to Washington County, Illinois. In the fall of 1832 he 
settled in Old Town timber, McLean County, near the present 
line between Downs and Old Town, and there he lived until his 
death, which occurred September 3, 1838. He was accustomed 
to preach in the first school house in Empire township. When 
he came to McLean County he brought about sixty head of cat- 
tle to stock the farm which he opened up. He was the first 
farmer who brought any grafted fruit to the county ; this he ob- 
tained from Curtis' Nursery in Edgar County, on the Wabash. 

The settlers were greatly annoyed by fires on the prairie, and 
made use of all means to protect their farms from destruction. 
The settlers in the southwestern edge of Old Town timber were 
protected by a wide slough, and could fight the fire successfully. 

The following anecdote is given in the language of one of 
the sons of the early settlers : 

" About the year 1843 a certain would-be prophet, named 
Miller, upon whom the mantle of Elijah did not fall, predicted 
that on a certain day the world would come to an end. As the 
time approached for the termination of sublunary affairs, more 
or less excitement prevailed. On the south side of Old Town 
timber, and not far from where the village of Downs now stands, 
lived a boy named Mark C , who was much affected by Mil- 
ler's prediction. About a mile south of Old Town timber, and 
running parallel with it, was a broad marshy slough, which then 
afforded water the year round during the ordinary seasons. Be- 
tween this slough and the timber wore located the most of the 
farms of the early settlers, and as each succeeding year the 
autumnal fires swept over the prairies, stretching twenty miles 
away to the south, the settlers relied mainly upon this slough to 
save their farms from destruction. One day, while the excite- 
ment aroused by Miller was at its height, Mark and a neighbor 



m'lean county. 483 

boy, who unfortunately lived on the other side of the little 
stream, were diccussing the probabilities of the impending 
judgment when the lire of the Lord should come upon them and 
wrap the world in flames. Suddenly a new idea seemed to strike 
Mark. Thinking of the slough, he exclaimed with joy and re- 
assurance : 'Well, thank God, it can't get to our house; it can't 
cross the big slough !" 

It was many years after the first settlement of the country be- 
fore the people could believe that the prairies would be worth 
anything. John Hendrix was among the first to see the rich- 
ness and utility of the prairies. While he and John Benson 
and John Rhodes were once discussing the matter it seemed to 
be their opinion that if the edges of the groves could be settled 
that would be all they could expect. Bat Hendrix said : "I 
don't know about that, boys. This is mighty rich prairie." 

Joseph Weaver was known among the settlers as "Old Fath- 
er Weaver." He was five feet and eight inches in height, had a 
quick, lively step, and never used a cane. He was full of fun 
and good humor. He died of congestive chills, and, it is 
thought, some disease of the spine. He married, December 12, 
1803, Mary Sims. He had thirteen children, twelve of whom 
lived to grow to manhood and womanhood. Eight are now liv- 
ing. They are : 

Elizabeth Weaver, born January 30, 1808, died about the 
year 1858 ; was never married. 

Nancy Weaver, born June 16, 1809, was married, to William 
Jessee, and lives in Douglas County, Kansas. She is now a 
widow. 

Mary Weaver, born November 3, 1810, married Rev. Mr. 
McPherson and died April 22, 1853. 

Lucy Weaver died in infancy. 

Sarah Weaver, born July 15, 1814, is married to Amos Neal 
and lives in Farmer City. 

Lora Weaver, born April 20, 1816, was married to A. P. 
Craig, and lives in Downs township. 

Hanna Weaver, born February 18, 1818, married Isaac 
Keeran, and lives in Miami County, Kansas. 

James Weaver, born December 21, 1819, married Nancy 
Price, daughter of John Price, and lives in Miami County, 
Kansas. 



484 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Sylvia Weaver, born May 20, 1822, married John Worley, of 
McLean County. She died October 3, 1842. 

Rebecca Weaver, born March 18, 1824, married John Camp- 
bell, of McLean County, died September 12, 184G. 

Martha Weaver, born February 6, 1826, married J. M. Hol- 
loway, and lives in Miami County, Kansas. 

William Weaver, born August 7, 1K27, lives in Miami County, 
Ivansas. 

Joseph B. Weaver, born April 13, 1881, lives on the home- 
stead, lie was elected Supervisor in 1867, Justice of the Peace 
in 1870. lie served three years during the war in the 94th Illi- 
nois Volunteers. He married, September 30, 1855, Margaret 
Kimler, and has four children. 

William Bishop. 

William Bishop was born September 8, 1794, in Fauquier 
County, Virginia. He was of English, Irish, Scotch and French 
descent. His father moved to Fleming County, Kentucky, when 
William was probably only one or two years of age, and when be 
was five or six years of age the family came to Clark County, 
Ohio. There he received some little education from a tutor, who 
was employed to teach in the family. 

During the war of 1812 William Bishop was a teamster in the 
army, and went to Fort Meigs and to Fort Wayne. He frequent- 
ly camped out when the snow came over him. On the campaign 
one of the oxen belonging to his team died, and he put a harness 
on the other and used it as a leader. Sometimes he was unable 
to sret feed for his oxen and ffave them salt bacon, which thev ate 
very readily and seemed to be much strengthened by it. He 
often fed it to his cattle afterwards, and it made them healthy. 

In about the year 1820 Mr. Bishop went to Virginia, and there 
married Margaret Lake. In 1833 he came to Illinois and settled 
in Old Town timber. When the family first arrived there, they 
were obliged to sleep in a wagon for three weeks. No plank 
could be had for love or money. At their first arrival they built a 
fire near an elm tree and made dinner. They found a hunter's 
abandoned hut, cleaned it out and lived in it during their first 
winter. During the next year they built the six mile house, a 
double log cabin, which was used for many years as a stopping 



m'leak county. 485 

place for travelers. All of tin 1 water used was hauled from the 
prairie, two miles distant. They twice attempted to dig a well, 
but at the depth of titty feet the ground was still dry. It was 
very difficult indeed to haul their water, as they had no barrel. 
But a circumstance occurred by which they obtained a water bar- 
rel. General Gridley at that time kept store in Bloomington. He 
had a barrel of honey standing outside his door, as no space was 
left for it inside. Some mischievous boys pulled out the plug, and 
the honey was lost. General Gridley used some very unparlia- 
mentary language about the matter, but as he had no further use 
for the barrel, gave it to Mrs. Bishop. 

Mr. Bishop commenced farming on an abandoned claim. He 
was much troubled by prairie fires, which sometimes ran into the 
timber. A great hurricane swept through the timber in 1827, and 
piled it up in every direction, and when the prairie fire swept in 
among the logs it would sometimes burn for many weeks. 

The memorable sudden change in the weather in December, 
1836, came when Mr. Bishop* was two miles from home. He im- 
mediately came home on horseback, driving a yoke of cattle. 
The dumb creatures insisted on going into the brush for protection 
against the piercing wind, and it was with the greatest difficulty 
that he brought them home. His chickens were many of them 
frozen up in the slush. 

Mr. Bishop was about five feet and six or eight inches in height, 
and weighed about one hundred and forty-five pounds. He had 
dark hair, gray eyes, a sandy beard and was somewhat bald- 
headed. He was a hard-working man, but a lively trader. In 
1842 and '43 he bought pork at Pekin and shipped it to the St. 
Louis market. He served for a while as County Commissioner. 
He died in October, 1855. He had nine children, six boys and 
three girls. They are : 

Harvey Bishop lives in the western part of Old Town. He 
has light hair and a light complexion. He has his farm well im- 
proved. 

Henry Clay Bishop was named after the great statesman of 
Kentucky, whom William Bishop admired so much. 1 ie is rather 
less than the medium stature, has dark, hazel eyes, is very pleasant 
in his manner, and is very kind and accommodating. He is a 
bachelor and lives about one mile south of Gillem station. 



486 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Samuel Bishop is a physician and lives at Moline, Illinois. He 
is a graduate of a homeopathic institution in St. Louis, and now 
practices medicine. Before this he went to Hamilton College, 
New York, where he studied for the ministry. He preached for 
a year or two, but left the pulpit and began the study of medi- 
cine. 

( ireorge Bishop is a tanner in Dwight. He also studied for the 
ministry and was a preacher for a while, hut went to farming. 

Elizabeth, wife of B. R. Price, lives on the west line of Old 
Town township. s 

Susan, wife of James Reyburn, lives in Old Town, near Har- 
vey Bishop. 

William H. Bishop lives on his brother Luther's place, where 
his father died. 

Airs. Sarah B. Ayres, a widow, keeps house for her brother 
Samuel, in Moline. 

Luther Bishop, the youngest, is a farmer, and lives with Ins 
brother William. 

After the death of Mr. Bishop, Mrs. Bishop lived for five 
years in Bloomington, and sent her two youngest sons, William 
and Luther to the ^Normal School to he educated. She then re- 
turned to the old place, where she is still living. She is a very 
kind old lady, and seems yet to he enjoying the best of health. 

Elias Henry Wall. 

Elias Henry Wall was born Decemhor 8, 1797, in Warren 
County, Kentucky. His remote ancestors were Irish, Scotch and 
Welch. His grandfather, Henry Wall, came from Ireland, and 
his maternal grandfather, Elias McFadden, was of Scotch de- 
scent. His father was George Wall, a preacher in Kentucky, of 
the Methodist denomination, and his mother was Margaret Mc- 
Fadden. 

Mi-. Wall received his common school education in Kentucky, 
where he lived until he was thirty-six years of age. When he 
was eleven years of age he heard Peter Cartwright exhort. The 
latter had missed his way in traveling to an appointment and 
came to Mr. George Walks house, and while there, gave the ex- 
hortation. While going from one point to another Mr. Cart- 
wright was in the habit of marking his wav hv blazing the trees 



m'lean county. 487 

with a hooked knife which he carried for that purpose. It was 
this habit which suggested a joke to Mr. Cartwright. When he 

was in a public house in New York, a room in the highest story 
was given him, and he inquired for a broad-axe to blaze his way 
up in order that he might find it without assistance. Elias Wall 
joined the Methodist Church when he was twenty-one years of 
age, and lias been a consistent member ever since, lie was a. 
• •lass-leader tor fourteen years in Warren County, Kentucky, and 
when he came to Illinois, some of the old members of his class 
raised for him a class of nine members. Within a few years it. 
increased to seventy, hut has since been divided and subdivided. 

Mr. Wall remembers very little of the war of 1812, besides 
what is written in history. When the draft for men was made 
he drew for his brother-in-law, dames Price, and obtained a 
blank. 

In the year 1830 Mr. Wall came to the West on a visit, and 
was much pleased with the country. He attended a camp-meet- 
ing on the Ox-bow prairie, and heard the celebrated Father 
Walker preach. In the fall he returned to Kentucky. He was 
married December 21, 1830, to Martha P. Savidge, daughter of 
Littlebury and Rhoda Savidge. 

The winter of the deep snow (1830-31) was memorable in 
Kentucky. It fell to the depth of a foot and a half, which was 
remarkable for that climate. 

In the latter part of October, 1833, he came to the West, but, 
like so many of our pioneers, had great difficulty in becoming 
acclimated. For eight years he was sick with various diseases; 
at one time he had the cholera, and after the disease was broken, 
his life was dispaired of, even by the attending physician. But a 
good constitution, at last restored him. 

When Mr. Wall came to the West he brought with him a 
black man, named Elijah Thomas, who was allowed to be free by 
Mr. Wall, sr. This colored man had a younger brother, named 
Andrew Jackson, who remained in Kentucky. He was allowed 
his liberty and considered free by his master, George Wall. But 
in course of time, George Wall died, and left no will relating to 
young Andrew Jackson. Everyone who had any claim on him 
was in Illinois, and perfectly willing that he should lie free ; 
nevertheless, the administrators of the estate hound him out 



488 OLD SETTLERS OF 

until he became twenty-one. When his time was up, he ran 
away to Illinois, but had great difficulty in getting through. 
While on the macadamized road, he passed himself off as a laborer 
going- to work, but when he came to the border this little story 
was "too thin." The border was carefully watched by men with 
bloodhounds, and when Andrew Jackson came there, they took 
after him. But he was a plucky fellow ; he knocked down one 
of the bloodhounds and left it for dead, outran the rest and tri- 
umphantly crossed the Ohio River to Illinois. Here he thought 
himself tree, but was seized by the Bheriff as a runaway slave, in 
the first town he came to. But fortunately he was recognized by 
a neighbor, who had known him in Kentucky, and the sheriff 
released him from custody. However, young Andrew would 
have soon released himself from custody, as the sheriff had kindly 
given him the bounds of the town. He came to Illinois and was 
sale. He was a smart boy, and learned to read and write, and 
became a very effective exhorter in the Baptist Church. 

Mr. Wall settled first a little to the west of the present station 
of Downs, on the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Bail- 
road ; but he now lives about four miles west of Leroy, on the 
road from that place to Hey worth. His farm first joined that of 
John Price, who was his most intimate friend. Xot many years 
after bis arrival in the West, he and John Price determined to 
have a school-house. Some of their neighbors in Old Town 
wished one also, and thev all joined too-ether and buiH one on the 
line, which divided the townships, on land given by "Wall and 
Price. It was afterwards used by various denominations as a 
meeting-house. Back of the meeting-bouse they donated land 
for a camp-ground. On the third of July, 1848, Mrs. Martha 
Wall died. She was a very excellent lady and highly respected 
by all of her acquaintances. On the twenty-second of October, 
1850, Mr. Wall was married to Mrs. Clarissa Karr. She was a 
widow lady of very kind disposition and very estimable qualities 
of mind. Her maiden name was Clarissa Garrison. She is still 
living and enjoys a happy old age. 

Among the many diseases which visited the AVest, was the 
erysipelas, which came like an epidemic. Mr. and Mrs. Wall 
were sick with it, and five of their relatives died with it. Mi'. 
"Wall took care of the children of his relatives who died with this 



m'lean county. 4s ( ,t 

disease, and had parts of four families with him at one time, 
making his own family number eleven persons. This was in 
1840, when the census was taken. Mr. and Mrs. Wall have no 
children of their own. Their son is dead, and also all of Mrs. Wall's 
children by her first marriage. They took care of their grandson, 
Asbury Barnard, for eight years, and sent him to the Wesleyan 
and Normal Universities. He now lives on his farm at the head 
of Old Town, and is in very prosperous circumstances. He loves 
to visit his grandparents, who have the greatest affection for him. 
They have raised two sets of orphan children, and seem to feel 
that Providence has placed them upon earth for the purpose of 
allowing them an opportunity for doing good. 

Mr. Wall has always been a worker in the cause of Christian- 
ity, and thinks he should miss no opportunity for reproving sin. 
A few incidents will show this disposition. A man named Hamp- 
ton kept a mill down on Kickapoo Creek in Randolph's Grove. 
He was a very determined man, and his neighbors stood in fear 
of him. He was accustomed to go hunting on Sunday, and on 
one of his Sabbath day hunting excursions he fell in with Mr. 
Wall, who was on his way to meeting. The latter said : " Mr. 
Hampton, if you have no respect for the Sabbath day, I hope you 
will respect the feelings of this neighborhood. We are a civil 
people here, and don't hunt on Sunday." The impressive man- 
ner in which this was spoken, caused Mr. Hampton to turn back 
and abandon his hunt. Shortly afterwards, when Mr. Wall went 
with a grist to Mr. Hampton's mill, the latter said: "By Guinea, 
Wall, I want you to mind your business. Mr. Randolph says 
you did wrong in talking to me as you did." Mr. Wall replied: 
"Mr. Randolph and I are two people; it is my duty to reprove 
sin wherever I find it." Hampton said it was hard to know the 
law on the subject; but Mr. Wall replied that he went by a higher 
authority than the law, and he said furthermore, that people had 
been telling him that he could not have his grinding done at 
Hampton's mill because of the circumstance, but thought the 
latter should be glad to do it as no one in the neighborhood dared 
to reprove him for his sin except Mr. Wall. Hampton said : 
" ( Jet down here,"' and ground the grain very willingly. A short 
time after this, some young hunters killed three deer on Sunday 
and they were about to carrv the deer on horseback past Mr. 



490 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Wall's door; but Mr. Hampton told them they had "better let 
Elias Wall alone." Hunting on Sunday was quite common. At 
onetime Mr. Wall heard shooting on Sunday, and on going to 
the timber found two men with a large buck, which they had 
killed. He was acquainted with one, and, after an introduction 
to the other, Mr. Wall said: "You are both of you peace officers 
and you hunt on Sunday and disturb the peace; were you raised 
in that way?" One of the gentlemen afterwards told Mr. Wall 
that the reproof was severely felt, as his own mother was a Chris- 
tian woman. Mr. W r all talked to the gentlemen and walked 
with them for a half a mile, and they promised him never to dis- 
turb him again on Sunday, and they kept their word. 

Mr. W r all gives his experience with the sudden change in the 
Aveather which occurred in December, 1836. He says, it turned 
cold so suddenly that a chicken had its feet frozen tight in the 
ice. The sudden cold, after the snow and rain, covered the 
country with a glare of ice, and on this Mr. Wall was obliged to 
travel eight miles with an unshod horse to collect money to meet 
his engagements. The horse frequently slid down the slippery 
hills on his bare i'oet. 

During the February following, Mr. Wall went to Danville on 
horseback to enter some land. He crossed the Sangamon on the 
ice, but on his return a thaw set in ami he re-crossed in a canoe, 
above the ford, as it was filled with drifted ice, and the water 
was running rapidly. He led his horse, a tine cream-colored ani- 
mal, down the bluff, and it swam across with the canoe, but could 
not climb the bank. It tried to swim down to the ford, and when 
it turned to come back, all except its head was carried by the 
current under the ice; but it swam back by great exertions and 
succeeded in climbing the bank. When the horse escaped from 
the danger it seemed much gratified, and "held up its tail, as if 
it were glad to be alive."' Mr. Wall kept this horse for twenty- 
two years. 

Mr. Wall has been troubled for the last twenty years with a 
cancer in his eye, and has tried many remedies for it. It has 
been, indeed, a great affliction, but the resolution of the old pio- 
neer has been sufficient even for this. He has tried many differ- 
ent physicians with different success, but still the disease remains. 

Mr. Wall is rathe]' a tall, noble-looking man. His words and 



m'leaji COUNTY. 491 

the tone of his voice show his conscientiousness and his tender 
feeling. His appearance impresses one with his dignity and his 
kindness. He feels it to be his duty to make his life as well as 
his words a reproof to every form of wickedness. He is respected 
and loved by the people for many miles around, and is affection- 
ately called "Uncle Elias Wall." 

John Price. 

John Price was horn January 23, 1802, in Mecklenburg Coun- 
ty. North Carolina. His father was an American, and his mother 
was horn in Ireland. In 1804 his father's family moved to Mont- 
gomery County, Kentucky. In 1857 they moved to Warren 
County, same State, then to Williamson County, Tennessee, 
where they stayed a little more than three years, and then moved 
hack to Warren County. John Price received very little education. 
[Ie was obliged to go a long distance for what he obtained. He 
trudged three miles every day to school while in Tennessee. The 
war of 1812 occurred while he was in Tennessee. During this 
uncertain and exciting contest the neighborhood where he lived 
was once badly scared by a report that Indians were coming, and 
the militia turned out, and everyone commenced running bullets ; 
but the alarm was false. 

In September, 1821, when Mr. Price was only nineteen years 
of age, he married Matilda B. Hives. She was related to the his- 
torical Rives family of Virginia. But she had something better 
than honored lineage ; she was a smart woman and possessed of 
good judgment, and now. after more than half a century of wed- 
ded life, she is as smart as ever, and better than a fortune to Mr. 
Price. 

As soon as he was married, Mr. Price went to work to sup- 
port his wife. He sawed lumber with a whip-saw, and after that 
worked at building flatboats. As the yards where he was em- 
ployed were some distance from his home, in the winter time he 
started to work on Monday morning and did not return home until 
Saturday night. Sometimes he would return every night, and when 
he did so lie was obliged to go two and a half or three miles to work 
and lie there by sunrise and return home after sunset. He 
worked at sawing lumber and building flat-boats for seven years. 
As a matter of course he succeeded, for a man of such energy 



492 OLD SETTLERS OF 

must be sure of that in the end. In 1830 he came to Illinois on 
a visit, traveling in a covered wagon and camping out. He was 
then offered a claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land and 
a log cabin, near Bloomington, by Rev. Mr. Latta, for forty dol- 
lars, but refused it and entered land near where he now lives. In 
1831 he again came west with his wife for a visit. He started 
from Bloomington to return. At that time he had heard nothing 
of the Black Hawk war ; but when he arrived at Springfield men 
were volunteering to go. Xews travels slowly in an early settled 
country. In 1834 he came still again, entered land near where 
he now lives, remained fifteen months and then went to Ken- 
tucky for his father. He returned in the fall of 1836 to the place 
where he now lives, near the little station of Downs, on the In- 
dianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway. A part of his land 
is timber and part in prairie. The settlers were always anxious 
to get land adjoining timber, and now they are almost always to 
be found settled near the edges of groves. They had no idea 
that the prairie would be valuable except that part near the tim- 
ber ; but Mr. Price says that by the year 1836 he bewail to see 
that the prairie might be worth something after all. His first 
land was entered at Yandalia and the remainder at Danville. He 
has owned altogether six hundred and eighty acres, and never 
paid more than $1.2-3 per acre for any of it. 

When he came to the west he sent to Kentucky for apple ^ve(\ 
and cultivated a nursery and an orchard, and supplied all his 
neighbors with trees. 

Of course Mr. Price remembers the cold snap in 1836, as all 
settlers do. He was working a few rods from his house without 
his coat. The day was warm and the slush was three or four 
inches deep. In the afternoon a roar in the west gave notice of 
the approaching wind. It immediately became so cold that by 
the time he reached the house the frozen slush would nearly bear 
his weight. He let down his fence to allow his cattle the shelter 
of some stacked fodder, and they were thereby protected from 
the storm and were saved, but many of his pigs froze to death. 

The settlers were obliged to go long distances to do their 
trading. Mr. Price has hauled wheat to Chicago with an ox 
team, and received fifty-five cents per bushel. 



m'lean county. in:; 

All old settlers have had great difficulty with prairie tires. 
The grass on the prairie grew enormously high. It was quite often 
so high that a man on horseback was obliged to hold up his head 
to see over. In the tall of the year, when this grass beeame dry, 
any accident might set it on lire, and then it was a terrible 
sight indeed. The flames rolled along and gather force as cur- 
rents of air were drawn in after them. It was impossible to es- 
cape by running before the fire; the swiftest horse would be over- 
taken by it. In 1836, before Mr. Price came west for the last 
time, he wrote to have some hay cut and put up. Twenty-four 
acres were cut and stacked, and when Mr. Price came out he was 
gratified to find his wishes attended to and his stock provided 
with food for winter. But soon a tire came rolling over the 
prairie, and Mr. Price went to save his stacks. They had been 
placed on mowed ground ; nevertheless a little low grass had 
grown up and, being touched with frost, lay withered and dry. 
He tried to make a back lire, feeling confident he could whip it 
out in the low grass around his stacks, but it burned fiercely and 
tie went at it with a brush. This only scattered it the more and 
his stacks went up in smoke. At one time he had a fire on his 
farm when he was sick with the ague and his boys were gone 
from home. His next neighbor tore down a quarter of a mile of 
division fence to save the rails, but one third of them were burn- 
ed up, nevertheless. The neighbors came from miles around and 
put up his fence, for people then were always anxious to help one 
another. The prairie fires drove everything before them, the 
deer, wolves, rabbits, horses and cattle. The way to contend 
against fire is to make a back fire, but great care must be taken 
lest the back fire does not become as dangerous as the one to be 
] leaded off. A little water sprinkled on the grass in a line is 
sufficient to hold a back fire from doing damage, but after it once 
gets under headway nothing can check it. 

Mr. Price was a great hunter and a fine marksman ; he was 
to a great extent the leader among the hunters in that locality. 
During the first four years of his western life he killed twenty- 
five deer per annum on an average. They were then very nu- 
merous ; he has seen more than two hundred deer in one day, 
has counted thirty go out of the timber to the prairie in one flock. 
A good deerwasthen worth a dollar. He once killed a very fine one. 



41 »4 OLD SETTLERS OF 

which, when dressed, weighed one hundred and ninety-five pounds, 

and was enabled to sell the hams for a dollar or a dollar and a 
half, lie has had many amusing episodes during his life as a hun- 
ter, lie sometimes hunted with a man named Twining, who 
was very excitable, and missed his mark by over-anxiety. At 
one time when Twining had, as usual, succeeded in missing his 
deer, Mr. Price asked him : " Did von kill the deer, Mr. Twin- 
ing?" "No, I — I elevated too high." 

Deer are easily tamed if caughtyoung. When a fawn is caught 
and handled once it is tamed, and it sometimes displays the most 
astonishing intelligence : indeed the deer may be considered the 
most intelligent of American wild animals, with possibly the sin- 
gle exception of the heaver. The deer shows the most wonder- 
ful cunning in its attempts to escape pursuit, and will wade up a 
stream to throw a dog from the scent. It will walk a long dis- 
tance and then take a tremendous spring to one side to make the 
pursuer lose the track and take time to hunt for it. Mr. Price 
had at one time a tame deer, and a Pennsylvania!!, who was trav- 
eling in his covered wagon, came along with a dog of which he 
had a very high opinion, and thought it could catch the deer. 
Mr. Price allowed the man to try it. The dog sprang for the 
deer and they had a lively race and soon disappeared. "Now," 
said the Pennsylvania]!, "my dog has caught it." In an hour the 
deer came walking cautiously hack and went into one door of 
the house and out of the other into the brush where it laid down. 
It seemed to know that the dog would not dare to follow its track 
through the house. The dog was lost and was not found until 
nightfall. 

In early days the wolves were plenty: Mr. Price has stood in 
his door and counted five or six of them playing around in the 
field. He succeeded in killing the largest wolf known in that 
part of the country. It was of the large gray variety, and not 
one of the little prairie wolves. It was often chased by the hun- 
ters, hut was strong and swift, and would run away from them 
or elude pursuit. It was so large and powerful that it would 
carry off grown up hogs from the pen, and it was so audacious 
that it became a terror to the neighborhood. It began prowling 
around the house of Mr. Cowden and eating a sheep which had 
died near bv, and he sent for Mr. Price, who came one evening 



m'lean county. 49b 

to kill it. The night was clear and cold, and he went out occa- 
sionally to listen, and could hearit howl some distance away. At 
last he almost gave the matter up, when he discovered the shadow 
of the wolf on the snow as it was trotting down by the fence 
close to the house. He went into the house and returned with 
his gun, and the noise and disturbance caused the wolf to stop, 
when Mr. 1 'rice tired at it about eighty yards distant. The wolf 
could only move twenty or thirty steps, but when surrounded by 
men and dogs, nothing could take hold of it. It shut its powerful 
jaws on everything within reach, and the strongest dog in the 
neighborhood was obliged to stand back. Another shot killed it. 
It was so large that, when standing up, a common sized dog 
could walk under it without touching. For this wolf nearly all 
the farmers for miles around ottered premiums of corn. Jesse 
Funk offered fifty bushels, and all of the premiums amounted to 
more than a thousand bushels. Zachariah Blue offered a fine 
horse for the privilege of collecting the corn, but Mr. Price would 
accept nothing! Tie said that the fun of killing- the wolf was a 
sufficient reward. 

It was the custom of the settlers to take a general hunt 
towards a pole [tut up in some central place. Mr. Price took part 
in a genera] hunt when the pole was put up near Long Point, and 
the settlers started out from Buckles' Grove. Randolph's Grove, 
Long Point and ( )ld Town. 

Mr. Price has held some Township offices, but beyond this has 
never troubled himself much with political matters. He was the 
fourth justice of the peace of Priceville Precinct, and continued 
to hold that office for twelve years, until the organization of the 
township of Downs. He was treasurer of the township and of 
the Kickapoo Union District when it was formed, holding his 
office for sixteen years in all. 

^ On the thirteenth of September, 1871, Mr. and Mrs. Price 
celebrated their golden wedding. About one hundred persons 
wen- present at dinner, and four of them were guests at the 
original wedding half a century before. Speeches were made by 
E. 11. Wall, Thomas Twining, Joseph Weaver, Dr. Montgomery 
and Mrs. Lewis Case. Mr. Wall told the exploits of old settlers, 
and Mr. Twining enlarged upon the events of the early days. 
Bu1 Dr. Montgomery made the* mosl sensible and truthful speech 



496 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of the occasion. He said that the other speakers had decidedly 
neglected Mrs. Price in making their remarks, and that he could 
safely say she made the best coffee of any woman in McLean 
County. He also complimented Mr. Price, and said the best job 
ever done by the latter was when he, as justice of the peace, mar- 
ried him (Dr. Montgomery). This was a slight mistake. The 
best job ever done by Mr. Price was, when more than fifty years 
ago, be married Mrs. Price. Various golden presents were made 
by many persons. Gold-headed ebony canes, gold spectacles, 
gold rings, gold coins, etc. One cane bore the inscription : " To 
John Price by B. R. Price, Sept. 13, 1871," and another, " To 
Matilda B. Price by P. B. Price, Sept. 18, 1871." When these 
presents were made, Mr. Price turned to his children and said: 
" My dear children, you have been very kind to me, and now [ 
make you a present," and be gave each of them a twenty dollar 
gold coin — a rare thing just now. 

Mr. Price has had a family of eight children, four of whom 
are now living, two sons and two daughters. They are: Mr. P. 
1>. Price, who lives in Downs township; Mr. B. R. Price, who 
lives in Old Town ; Mrs. Polly O. Cowden, who liyes at Gillem 
Station, and Mrs. Nancy Weaver, who lives in Miami County, 
Kansas. Those children which are dead are -lames William, 
Sarah Frances, Matilda B. and John Rives Price. 

Mr. Price is tall, straight, and somewhat slim. His counte- 
nance expresses decision of character, good judgment and good 
feeling. Self command is shown in every movement ; he is a 
man of fine feeling, and a gentleman in the noblest sense of the 
word. His neighbors think everything of him, and he is, indeed, 
;i splendid American citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Price are both in 
good health, and a happier, pleasanter or more sociable husband 
and wife never lived. Time has dealt with them tenderly, and it will 
be many years before they will be called to pass over the river. 
They are very religious. 

Mr. Price's house was built large and roomy below tor the 
purpose of being used as a church, and divine service was held 
in it more or less regularly for eight or nine years. 



m'lean county. 497 

Rev. Sylvester Peasley. 

Sylvester Peasley was bora in Grayson County, Virginia, Au- 
gust, 31, 1823. His father's name was Isaac Peasley, and his 
mother's name, before her niarriage, was Rachel Bolsey. Eis 
father was of Scotch descent. Hisgreat grandfather came from 
Paisley, in Scotland, and this was the family name, but the spell- 
ing was changed to Peasley. This great grandfather Paisley was 
a general in the Revolutionary war, and served with distinction 
in the Continental army. Sylvester Peasley's grandfather, John 
Peasley, was also a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and fought 
in seven general engagements. He was at the battle of Guilford 
Court House, and his home was near the battle-ground. When 
the battle opened, Mrs. 1 'easier, Sylvester's grandmother, was 
told by some British officers to go into her house and wrap some 
beds around her to protect her from being shot. They milked 
her cows, but honestly paid for the milk. Those who know any- 
thing of army life will consider the latter a very extraordinary 
circumstance. 

In the fall of 1834, Mr. Isaac Peasley's family came to McLean 
County, Illinois, and arrived November 3. On their journey they 
saw in Kentucky many drovers taking large droves of swine to 
the south. He saw thousands of turkeys driven on foot to Louis- 
ville, where they were shipped on steamboats down the river. 
When the family arrived in McLean County, they had a hard 
time to find a house to live in through the winter, but finally ob- 
tained a cabin of Jesse Funk. It was built of logs, with a chim- 
ney of sticks on the outside. This chimney was built of sticks 
with clay between them, and was plastered on the inside with 
soft clay. The fire-place was built of clay pressed against a rack 
of puncheons; the hearth was of pounded clay, and the mantle- 
piece was made of clay and sticks. They used a goods-box for a 
table and goods-boxes or three-legged stools for chairs. The 
doors were made of clapboards split and shaved with a drawing- 
knife. The floors were made of puncheons, which had been first 
split and then hewed with a broad-axe. The cradle was made of 
shaved clapboards ; but sometimes the baby was rocked in the 
sugar trough, which was hewed out of a trunk of a tree. The 
pioneer bedstead has been so often described that anything further 
is superfluous here. 
29 



498 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The Peasley family lived for two years as renters in Jesse 
Funk's cabin, and then built one of their own. 

Mr. Peasley obtained a prairie team of four yoke of oxen which 
drew a plow with a shear of cold-hammered iron, which cut a farrow 

two feet wide. The wooden mould-board was from four to six 
feet long. This laid down the sod much better than any modern 
plow. Mr. Peasley could plow twenty acres before going to the 
shop to sharpen the shear. The routine of the day was to rise 
at daybreak and hunt the oxen which had been turned out the 
night previous to graze. This was the greatest hardship, as the 
dew was on the high grass, and whoever walked through it be- 
came soaking wet to the waist. After breakfast, began the work 
i if ploughing. At noon the oxen were allowed to graze for two 
hours, and at night they were turned loose until morning. The 
>nakes were sometimes very thick, and they continually retreated 
from the furrow as the sod was turned over, and collected together 
in the unplowed center. When the latter part of the patch was 
plowed the snakes became so thick that the grass would fairly 
wriggle with them. The rattlesnakes were very thick. Mr. 
Peasley has killed fifteen in one day. The oxen were sometimes 
bitten by rattlesnakes, and were made lame for sometime. Mr. 
Peasley never knew an ox to die of snakebite. The oxen dreaded 
the rattlesnakes, and when the rattle sounded the oxen sprang up 
taster than they ever would because of the whip. The danger of 
the rattlesnake's bite depends much on the season of the year. 
They are most dangerous in August, for then the poison is most 
virulent. Mr. Peasley's brother was bitten by rattlesnakes three 
times in one season, and still feels the effect in August. 

Mr. Peasley lived with his father in a log cabin on the prairie 
during the winter of 1836 and '37. lie speaks of the sudden 
change of the weather in December of that winter, so often de- 
scribed in this volume, and says that the sun rose on the follow- 
ing morning accompanied by two sundogs, which glistened on 
the ice-bound prairie, and the country was like some picture of 
the polar regions. The longest winter known among the early 
settlers was the one of 1842 and '43. Winter weather com- 
menced on the tenth of November, and did not break up until 
between the tenth and twentieth of April. No ploughing could 
be done in April. Nevertheless, the settlers raised tine crops of 
wheat sowed in May, and good crops of corn planted in June. 



m'lean county. 499 

Sylvester Peasley speaks warmly of the social feeling which 
existed among the early settlers, and how glad they were to see 
every new comer. When meeting was held in the neighborhood 
everyone attended. The Methodists were the first in the field', 
then the Cumberland Presbyterians, then the Baptists and then 
the Christians. At a camp-meeting the whole country had a re- 
union, and families frequently went fifteen miles to meeting with 
their ox-teams. In warm weather preaching was held in the 
open air. 

Mr. Peasley was a Democrat until the formation of the Re- 
publican party, when he joined the latter because of his opposi- 
tion to slavery. The political excitement of that period is well 
remembered, and when the Republican and Democratic parties 
first fairly tried their strength in 1856, the excitement was intense. 
Mr. 1'easley remembers a practical joke played upon the sup- 
porters of Buchanan by the friends of Fremont. The Demo- 
crats had raised a hickory pole, and on it was a pair of buck's 
horns; but some Republicans came and secretly bored the pole 
at the bottom until it fell, and then stole the buck's horns. 

Mr. Peasley was elected one of the first Supervisors under the 
township organization, which was effected in 1858. 

Mr. Peasley has endured the privations to which the early set- 
tlers were subjected. He has made the usual trips to Chicago, 
has been out twenty-six days in succession exposed to the coldest 
of winter weather, has waded the Kankakee River when his 
clothes were frozen as soon as he came out, and he has slept on 
the ground in wet weather by cutting brush and laying it down 
to protect him from the mud. He has given away the better por- 
tion of his life to itinerant work when the salary was little or 
nothing, and has attended to five churches. He never had the 
advantages of an education, and the information he possesses has 
been gained in a great measure by study near a fire at night. He 
is a very humorous man, and loves his joke. His eyes sparkle 
when he tells some funny anecdote, and he enjoys it over again 
as well as at first. He is generous, kind and hospitable, and 
wishes to live in peace with all men. He is very conscientious, 
but does not wish to be a fanatic in anything. He has been an 
ardent worker in Sabbath-school enterprises and still takes great 
interest in the cause. He is six feet and one inch in height; 



500 OLD SETTLERS OF 

his appearance and manner suggest the old settler, and he takes 
comfort in sitting by the old fashioned tire-place. 

Mr. Peasley, November 3, 1842, married Miss Mary Stillman, 
who died October 2, 1863. He had six children born by this 
marriage, of whom live are living. He married, April 6, 1864, 
Mrs. Susan Crosby, and by this marriage had one child which 
died when very young. Mr. Peasley's children are : 

Granville Peasley, born October 14, 1845, lives in Kendall 
County, Illinois. 

Rachel Susan, born October 29, 1848, wife of Eli Barton, lives 
in Downs township. 

Isaac Peasley, born October 24, 1851, and John Peasley, born 
July 16, 1854, live at home. 

Bissell Peasley (named after Governor Bissell) born January 
19, 1857, died in infancy. 

Esther Corneliette Peasley, born October 13, 1859, lives at 
home. 

Sarah Elvira Peasley, daughter by Mr. Peasley's second mar- 
riage, was born July 25, 1866, and died November 8, 1869. 

Alexander Porter Craig. 

Alexander P. Craig was born June 30, 1817, in the territory of 
Illinois, in what is at present White County. His father was of 
Scotch descent, and his mother of Irish. They were both born 
and reared in Abbeyville District, South Carolina. Mrs. Craig 
died in 1853, and her husband died the following year. The 
Craig family moved from Illinois to Alabama in about the year 
1822. No very important event occurred there. Porter Craig 
there received his early education, which was somewhat limited. 
In the fall of 1830 the family went to Craves County, Kentucky, 
where they remained four years. In the fall of 1834 they came 
to Illinois and settled in Old Town timber, McLean County, a 
ittle south of the present dividing line between Downs and Old 
Town, near the present residence of A. P. Craig. There they 
opened a farm. Mr. Craig has done his share of hunting and 
has chased wolves, deer and turkeys, but had no dangerous 
adventure. In 1836 the family moved to about three miles north 
of Leroy, but in the spring of 1840 returned near his present re- 
sidence. He made his home for three or four years on the 



m'lean county. 501 

farm of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Weaver. Id 1<S(!4 he built a 
house on land adjoining this place and has lived there ever since. 

He has had his experience with tires on the prairie. In the 
fall of 1834 he and his father fixed a log heap on which was piled 
some stone to be burnt into lime. Soon a tire came sweeping 
over the prairie and burnt up the log heap, leaving the lime in 
good condition. The fires in that section of county nearly always 
came up from Salt Creek or Randolph Grove. 

Mr. Craig is about five feet and ten inches in height and 
rather slim. His whiskers are gray, and his hair is turning white. 
His eyes are gray. He is pretty firm and decided in his manner. 
He possesses the eontidence of his neighbors and is perfectly 
straightforward in his dealings. 

Mr. Craig married, July 30, 1835, Lora Weaver. He has 
had ten children, eight of whom are now living, four sons and 
four daughters. They are : 

Lucinda Maria, who died in infancy. 

Silva Dorinda, born July 29, 1837, widow of Henry Mannan, 
a soldier in the 94th Illinois, who died in the army. 

William Davis Craig, born February 15, 1839, died in in- 
fancy. 

Mary Jane, born April 6, 1840, was married first to Captain 
C. Williams, of the 39th Illinois, who was killed at the battle of 
Deep Run. She is now the wife of D. C. Kazar, of Downs town- 
ship. 

Martha Rebecca, born December 21, 1841, wife of John Gard- 
ner, lives in Downs township. 

]S"ancie Caroline, born May 28, 1844, wife of John Cowden, 
lives near Gillem Station. 

John James Craig, born October 21, 1846, lives in Downs 
township. 

Alexander Berry Craig, born July 18, 1849, lives in Old Town 
township. 

Joseph Johnson, born December 13, 1851, and Jesse Wash- 
ington Craig, born October 2, 1854, live at home. 

Mr. A. P. Craig died February 7, 1874. 



502 old settlers of 

Henry Welch. 

Henry Welch was born November 14, 181(3, in Northampton 
County, Pennsylvania. His father and mother were Americans; 
his grandfather came from Wales, and his maternal grandmother 
came from Germany . His parents moved to Pickaway County, 
Ohio, when Henry was six months old. When he was about 
seven years old, they moved to Vigo County, Indiana, where they 
remained until he was eighteen years old. His early years were 
not remarkable for any particular incident or anything worthy of 
note. He came to McLean County, Illinois, March 30, 1835, and 
entered his land near Diamond Grove, in the present township of 
I 'owns. Here he paid close attention to his business of farming, 
and had very little disposition to hunt, though game was plenty. 
He once went on a general hunt, when the pole was placed at 
Long Point, but the party was not successful in killing much 
game. He has seen many prairie tires, when the grass became 
dry in the fall, but never lost much by them, as lie was always 
careful to guard against them. He always ploughed around his 
stacks and fences, and by this precaution saved his property. 

The sudden change in the weather which occurred in Decem- 
ber, 1836, is remembered by all settlers of that period, and Mr. 
Welch, of course, had an experience. The day had been mild 
and the ground was covered with a slush of snow and water, 
when suddenly a roar was heard in the west and a wind-storm 
came on so quickly that everything was frozen up almost instantly. 
Mr. Welch says that when the wind-storm came, his pigs hud- 
dled together in the pen to keep warm, but some half dozen of 
them carelessly allowed their tails to droop into the slush and 
were frozen fast. The next morning he heard discordant sounds 
coming from the sty, and on going there found it "exciting and 
distressing"' to see the pigs wriggling to loosen their tails, and 
si [iiealing most fearfully. He loosened them by cutting their 
tails with his knife, and they afterwards looked so pretty that he 
has ever since kept the tails of his pigs clipped short. 

Mr. Welch is a great stockraiser, and thinks he has fed and 
raised more stock than any other man in Downs township. He 
seems to be a natural stockraiser, has a disposition tor managing 
horses, cuttle, sheep and pigs, and during all the years he has been 
in the business, he has received no injury from any domestic ani- 



m'lean COUNTY. 503 

nial. He thinks thai of all stock raised sheep pay the best for 
the trouble expended upon them. He lias sold wool at prices 
ranging from thirty-five to seventy cents, and thinks it would pa\ 
to raise sheep with wool at thirty cents per pound. Like nearh 
all persons who raise sheep, he would like to have a pretty good 
tariff' upon imported wool. He says the dealers in wool are wt up 
to their capers," as well as dealers in wheat or any other produce. 
He says that in February and March they throw as much wool 
on the market as possible, for the purpose of putting down the 
price when the new clip comes in. In 1859 and V>0, Mr. Welch 
began to go pretty deeply into the business of raising sheep, but 
abandoned it because of the danger of having them killed by 
dogs. He bad one hundred and eleven sheep killed by dogs in 
one night, and one hundred and sixty during the week. This 
made the raising of sheep uncertain and a source of constant 
anxiety, and he put his time and trouble into other kinds of 
stock, which, perhaps, might not pay so well, but be more safe 
and certain. 

Mr. Welch's experience in raising pork has been varied. The 
price has ranged from one dollar per hundred to ten dollars and 
fifty cents; but when it reached the latter figure the price of gold 
was $2.50. 

He made it pay very well to raise horses, but more capital 
was required for this business. 

Mr. Welch has been very successful as a farmer and stock- 
raiser. When he came to the West he was a poor boy, but he 
exercised discretion in his business, looked ahead and guarded 
against danger, took no unnecessary risks, and now finds himself 
in very independent circumstances. He was at first a farmer and 
teamster. In 1836 he hauled a load of goods from Pekin to 
Bloomington, and from there to Dixon. He had two wagons, 
each hauled by four yoke of cattle. One wagon carried a ton 
and the other a ton and a half. He went through very success- 
fully, but when he came to the inlet Swamp he found it impos- 
sible to pull through even by putting all the oxen on a single 
wau'on ; so he put his coffee sacks and other articles on the backs 
of the oxen and made them go through in that way. The goods 
belonged to William Covel, and were the first ever brought to 
Dixon. He went to Rockrord in 1837, and on his way from 



504 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Dixon to that place passed over the famous battle-ground of 
Stillman's linn. The graves of the dead were then plain to be 
Been. 

Mr. Welch has done as many fanners in the early days were 
obliged to do, driven his hogs to Chicago on foot, camping out 
and herding them at night. He says this was sometimes lively 
work, and was like standing picket. He has hauled wheat to 
Chicago and received forty-eight cents per bushel. 

For some time after his arrival in the West, Mr. Welch fol- 
lowed the prairie plow, which was pulled by live yoke of oxen, 
and cut a sod of twenty or twenty-two inches. He did this in 
Illinois and Wisconsin; at one time he broke three hundred 
acres of land near Beloit, Wisconsin, for a company settled 
there. 

Henry Welch is live feet and ten inches in height, measured 
that since he was nineteen years of age. He weighs over two 
hundred pounds and is muscular and healthy. 80 far as his 
countenance is concerned, some people say he looks like Horace 
Greeley. He does not like to he told this, but would greatly 
prefer to resemble Abraham Lincoln, whom he so much admires. 
Mr. Welch is highly esteemed by his neighbors by whom he is 
known as a man strictly honest, correct in his judgment and kind 
in his manner. He has that hospitality which the old settlers 
Avere accustomed to show, and his friends are always welcome 
under his roof. 

Henry Welch married, November 24, 1842, Miss Minerva 
Colwell, daughter of James Colwell of Gibbon County, Indiana. 
Neither of her parents are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Welch 
have had eight children. They are : 

Sarah Jane, born April 12, 1845, died September 10, 1847. 

William Lee Welch, born February 11, 1847, died January 
9, 1871. 

James Adams, born January 6, 1849, lives in Randolph town- 
ship. 

Susan Ann, born September 24, 1850, wife of George Bishop, 
lives in Downs township. 

Eliza Matilda, born October 8, 1852; Alfred J. Welch, born 
July 5, 1855; George Henry Welch, born June 13, 1858; Mi- 
nerva Elizabeth, born June 6, 1866, live at home. 



m'lean county. 505 

Hon. John Cusey, 

John Cusey was born April 9, 1822, in what is now Ashland 
County, Ohio. His father's name was John Cusey, and his 
mother's maiden name was Sarah Ford. John Cusey, the grand- 
father of the John Cusey of whom we are writing, was the young- 
er son of an aristocratic family in England. Being the younger 
son he was not allowed to inherit any portion of his father's es- 
tate, and this completely disgusted him with English laws and 
customs. He was put into the English army against his will, 
and when the American colonies rebelled against the mother 
country he was among the number sent to whip them into sub- 
mission. But his sharp experience with English customs and his 
enlistment in the army contrary to his will had made him a 
strong Republican. As soon as he found an opportunity, he, with 
sixty-two others, deserted from the British army and joined the 
American forces. He fought gallantly for the American cause 
for six years and seven months, was in many battles, and in one 
of them was wounded in the right lung. He lived many years 
afterwards, but never entirely recovered from his wound. He 
died from its effect in 1796. He left one son son, Job Cusey. 
The latter was horn in 1704, near Ellicott's Mills in Maryland. 
As his father died two years after his birth, Job Cusey was placed 
in charge of Ezekiel Weeks, a Revolutionary soldier, and a former 
messmate of John Cusey. During the war of 1812 the Weeks' 
hoys enlisted in the army, and Job Cusey went with them, but 
not as a soldier, f< >r he was small for his age. But he was a lively 
hoy and acted as teamster or hostler or did anything and every- 
thing to make himself useful. At the close of the war he emi- 
grated to the Western Reserve in Ohio, and there raised a family. 
In 1836 he prepared to come to Illinois, and told his boys that 
they could have a few weeks' time to visit their relations. But 
Nathan Brooks, a soldier of the Revolution and of 1812, told the 
boys that it would be more profitable for them to spend their time 
in clearing three acres of timber land for him, and if they would 
do so, he would give them one of Smith's best rifles, with which 
to shoot game in Illinois. The boys cleared the land and earned 
the rifle. The family came to McLean County, Illinois, in the 
fall of 1836, and John and Thomas Cusey used the gun to kill 
prairie chickens. At one time, while after prairie chickens, they 



500 OLD SETTLERS OF 

found a herd of deer, and Thomas Cusey shot a large buck through 

the nose. It was stunned at first and fell, and Thomas grabbed 
it by the jaw and ear. But it soon arose and threshed Thomas 
around, though he hung to it closely. John tkisey came to the 
help of his brother and grasped the deer by the legs, but was 
kicked off instantly. The deer had shed its horns and could not 
fight advantageously, but it was very plucky and would not let 
the boys get away. It knocked down first one and then another, 
and as each fell the other came to the rescue. Thomas attempted 
to load the gun, but before he could do so the deer came on him, 
and with its fore-feet jumped on the gun and broke off the stock. 
The boys fought desperately, and at last killed the deer with a 
knife; but they were cut in many places by the deer's sharp 
hoofs; their clothes were torn off, and they were covered with 
blood from head to foot. This was the first deer they killed. 

Reference has been made in the sketch of John Price to a 
wolf, which was a terror to the settlers from Mackinaw to Salt 
Creek. Mr. Cusey once heard this wolf howling and knew that 
it was in pursuit of game, and supposed that it would soon get a 
good meal of venison and be unable to run. He mounted his 
horse and went after it, and sure enough it was eating a deer. 
He came up with it after a short chase of a mile, but it snapped 
its large jaws together as quick as a steel-trap, and its appearance 
was so ferocious that Mr. Cusey could not urge his horse near to 
it and returned home disappointed. John Price shot the wolf 
some time afterwards. 

Mr. Cusey was for twenty-five years a clerk for Jesse Funk, 
while the latter bought cattle and traded in stock. They carried 
around large steel-yards to weigh the hogs, which were suspended 
in the air. After they were weighed, one-fifth was deducted in 
order to arrive at their weight after being dressed. Mr. Cusey 
multiplied the gross weight by eight and struck off one figure, 
and the quotient was the neat weight. This process was discov- 
ered by Jesse Funk, who could not write a cypher. Of course it 
is easy for any one at all familiar with the arithmetic to under- 
stand the process, but is quite remarkable for one who never wrote 
a figure. Mr. Funk remembered everything without the aid of 
memoranda. Atone time he said : "Cusey, I have lost twenty 
dollars and can not tell where it has gone." Then he reviewed 



m'lban county. 507 

the purchase of one thousand and eighty-four hogs, which he had 
bought singly and in small lots, and every purchase was correct; 
but still the twenty dollars was unaccounted for. At last he 
remembered thai he had lent twenty dollars to a friend. Jesse 
Funk had a habit of giving people various nick-names. At one 
time when Funk was going with Cusey down in Piatt County to 
purchase stock, Mr. Funk said: "Now, Cusey, we are going down 
among the Baptist brethren in Piatt County, and I must call you 
deacon, and then I shall have no trouble in dealing with them." 
Cusey objected to no purpose, and whenever Funk had a misun- 
derstanding it was settled by Deacon Cusey to the satisfaction of 
all. Mr. Cusey was an administrator for Jesse Funk's estate, and 
saw the first tax-receipt the latter ever paid. It .was given by 
Martin Scott, Sheriff and Collector, and was for the sum of 
thirty-five cents. But the last tax paid by Mr. Funk amounted to 
two thousand three hundred dollars. 

Mr. Cusey was a cabinet maker, which was an easy trade for 
him to learn, as his father had been a carpenter. 

Job Cusey, the father of John Cusey, was an old-time aboli- 
tionist. He was made so by a scene which he witnessed in Mary- 
land, before he came to the West, There was a negro preacher, 
a most excellent man, who held meetings among the negroes of 
the neighborhood. But after awhile his master became involved 
in debt and was obliged to sell his slaves, and the negro preacher 
was sold with the rest. He was chained to a slave-gang, which 
started on its journey to the farther south. As it was moving off, 
he looked up and saw his master and the crowd, which lined the 
road, and said : 

•'My suffering time will soon be o'er, 
When I shall sigh and weep no more." 

Just then a person passed along the crowd with a hat in which he 
received contributions. Enough money was raised on the spot 
to buy the negro preacher from the slave driver. The slave 
owners of the neighborhood contributed, because the preacher 
kept their slaves quiet. This incident so impressed Mr. Cusey 
that he became an Abolitionist forthwith, and remained so during 
his life. When Mr. Lovejoy came to speak at Bloomington, a 
great many years ago, many citizens thought that he should not 
be allowed to use the court house. Tt was then that Job Cuse\ 



508 . OLD SETTLERS OF 

and George Dietrich stood by him and insisted that the court 
house should be open to him. They walked with him through 
the streets, while the excited crowd threw eggs at them, but the 
two men continued at their post. 

John Cusey was elected to the State Senate during the cam- 
paign of 1872. His attendance at the Legislature was marked by 
some happy hits. During the session of 1873 one Senator pro- 
posed a great reform in the choosing of School Superintendents 
in the various counties of the State, and insisted upon civil ser- 
vice reform, and that School Superintendents should pass an 
examination to find whether they were qualified to perform the 
duties of their office. Mr. Cusey observed that in the election of 
County Superintendents the people passed on their qualifications, 
and he asked if the persons chosen b} T the people were to be ex- 
amined as to their qualifications for their positions, what would 
become of the Senator who introduced the bill ! The proposition 
was defeated. 

In the Daily Leader of April 1, 1874, we find the following: 

"In the Illinois State Senate there are two men whose names 
are so nearly alike — Casey and Cusey — that the telegraph and 
newspapers, during the recent session, got them badly confused 
occasionally. Casey is a Democratic Senator from 'away down in 
Egypt,' and Cusey is a Republican Senator from McLean County. 
Just before the final adjournment on Saturday, Mr. Casey intro- 
duced the following bill : 

' A Bill for an act to change the name of John Cusey to George 
Washington McLean. 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, 
represented in the General Assembly, That the name of John Cusey, 
of McLean County, Illinois, is hereby changed to George Wash- 
ington McLean, and by said last mentioned name he shall be 
hereafter known, designated and respected ; and that all the 
rights, privileges and hereditaments, whether corporeal or incorpo- 
real, that appertained to the said Cusey, be and are hereby rested 
in the said George Washington McLean ; and in the said latter 
cognomen he may sue and be sued, the same as if was single 
and unmaaried. 

' Sec. 2. Whereas, the interests of another respectable gentle- 
man have been jeopardized by the name of Cusey, therefore an 



m'lean county. 509 

emergency exists, and this act shall take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. 

A roar of laughter greeted this effort. Its point will be un- 
derstood when the tart is stated that the types have almost daily 
intermixed Cusey and Casay to such an extent that was exasper- 
ating to both. 

Air. Cusey is a very entertaining man in conversation, and 
nearly everything he says lias point to it or humor in it. Pie says 
that at one time, while Jesse Funk was taking a drove of swine 
along the road to market, he pointed to a pig in the rear of the 
drove, and said : "See there, Deacon Cusey, that pig is going to 
break."' Mr. Cusey watched it closely and noticed that it was 
restless, and was gradually passing the other pigs in the drove. 
When it came pretty well towards the head of the drove, sure 
enough, it broke. "Now," said Mr. Cusey, "when professional 
politicians see a man, whom they are unable to manage, going- 
ahead, they say, 'Watch him, watch him,' and they try to hold 
him back, long before the people see what is going on." 

Mr. Cusey is about five feet and ten inches in height, His 
hair is dark and thick, and sprinkled with gray. His face is broad 
and humorous. His conversation is very entertaining, and every- 
thing he says displays his shrewdness and his correct ideas. 
His pleasantry is of the best kind. He is not a man who loves 
his enemies, though he would not do them injustice if he kneAV 
it. He is a pretty quick judge of men, and it requires only a 
short time for him to understand them pretty well. He has not 
had the advantages of a good education, but his vigorous intel- 
lect and his shrewdness bring success without the training of the 
schools. 

On the 23d of November, 1843, Mr. Cusey married Miss 
Hannah Bishop. They have had nine children, seven of whom 
are living. One child died in infancy, and one, Sarah Elizabeth, 
died in her sixteenth year. Those living are Charity E., Thomas 
H., John A., James C, Joseph M., Mary J., and Hannah E. 
Cusey. The first two are married. 



510 OLD SETTLERS OF 



Samuel Troop Richardson. 



Troop Richardson was born July 14, 1809, in Cayuga County, 
New York, near Auburn. His father, Samuel L. Richardson, 

and his mother, whose maiden name was Ann Wright, were both 
of English descent. The ancestors of his mother came from 
England with William Penn. 

In October, 1818, the Richardson family started to Fort Har- 
rison, three miles from Terre Haute, Indiana. They had an all 
winter's journey of it, and came to their destination in March, 
1819. The journey was made by water on a flat-boat and was 
full of adventure. At Rising Sun, about thirty miles above Jef- 
fersonville, on the Ohio River, they were crushed into the ice 
which was running. The ice above came down and crushed 
them into the ice below. Their boat was raked fore and aft, and 
raised up out of the water, but by good management they released 
themselves from their dangerous situation. They crossed the 
( >hio Falls while the water was low, and had great difficulty in 
avoiding rocks and going through. In Indiana they followed 
tanning, and when Troop Richardson became about eighteen 
years of age he went to flatboating. He left Fort Harrison, 
Indiana, December 27, 1827, on a flatboat with Solomon Welch, 
the father of Henry Welch of Downs township. They started 
for New Orleans. They floated out into the Wabash, ran through 
cut-offs, storms and cold winds down into the Ohio. The first 
day on the Ohio was calm, and they decided to run at night. But 
during the night they had a stern storm, that is, one that blew 
down stream. The night was perfectly black, and they learned 
their position in the stream by hallooing and listening to the echo 
from the bank. They went at tremendous speed, at steamboat 
rates, and any little accident would have thrown them all into 
the water. They came down the Ohio into the Mississippi. When 
they left New Madrid they went through a second storm. Mr. 
Richardson was cableman, that is, it was his duty to throw the 
cable around a stump or post to stop the boat. This storm blew 
them down so swiftly that they were unable to stop before reach- 
ing Vicksburg, and when Mr. Richardson threw the seagrass 
table around a stump, it was drawn so tight, that when struck, it 
would hum like a fiddle-string. The seagrass cables were very 
strong and elastic, and if broken by the strain of the flatboat the 



m'lean county. .-)11 

cableman was in a dangerous situation, for the elastic cable might 
recoil and strike him. They also landed at Natchez, which was 
then noted as the hardest place on the Mississippi River. Many 
murders were committed there every day and human life was 
held very cheap. In the South Mississippi River they heard every 
night the voices of panthers and alligators. The latter makes a 
noise which sounds much like that of a yearling calf. Their 
voices were sometimes as numerous as the croakings of frogs in 
a pond. But no alligators were seen during that time of the year 
as they were back in the swamps and bayous, and would not come 
out until warm weather. The flatboat went down to New Or- 
leans, and when the cargo was disposed of the party return e< 1 
home. Mr. Richardson on his return went by steamboat up to 
Port Gibson, then rowed in a skiff down to Natchez, and there 
went on a steamboat which took him up to Evansville, within one 
hundred and twenty miles of home. He w r as obliged to row back 
to Natchez, because he could not land there while coming up the 
river. Steamboats in those days landed at very few points, as they 
were in constant danger of being captured on shore by bands of 
thieves. Mr. Richardson carried several hundred dollars in money 
with him, which he could not have done, had it been known. He 
walked from Evansville, one hundred and twenty miles, home. 
The boatmen on the river were a hard set of customers, but 
would fight for each other until death. Mr. Richardson tells of 
a very unpleasant predicament in which he was caught in 1836, 
while at New Orleans. He had two rlatboats lashed together by 
seagrass inch chords, and was so unfortunate as to get into the 
wake of a steamboat. The swell struck his rlatboats sideways, 
and the seagrass chords snapped in two. The bottom of one boat 
could be seen as it rolled up in the swell. 

In 1835, Mr. Richardson moved the widow of Solomon "Welch 
and her family to Rlinois. There the former entered land, hauled 
out logs for a cabin and returned to Indiana. In the summer of 
1838, he again came out to Illinois. The season was not very Avx 
and he mired down nearly half a dozen times between Mt. Pleas- 
ant (Farmer City) and the present town of Leroy. He went on 
his farm and commenced February 1, 1839, with three yoke of 
cattle, to improve it. He hauled all his lumber and timber three 
miles to make a five board fence on three sides of a thirty acre 



512 OLD SETTLERS OF 

lot; the fence on the fourth side lie built with, rails. He broke 
his land, put it into corn, wheat and oats, broke ten acres for Mr. 
Kinder, completed all this by the first of May, and his only help 
was a teamster hired for one month. Then he went to Ottawa 
and broke prairie for Mr. Welch. He did a great deal of team- 
ing, slept in his wagon, cooked his own victuals, always took his 
own half of the road, and always gave the other half when he 
passed a team. 

In 1841 Mr. Richardson made two trips to Chicago and one to 
Rockford with a load of apples. The country there was in great 
excitement over the lynching of two men, named Driscoll, father 
and son, who lived in Ogle County. They had been shot over 
their own graves and it was known that the entire country was 
infested with thieves. Mr. Richardson was therefore very cau- 
tious, and on his return during the Rockford trip he remained up 
all night to watch Ins money and horses. 

Mr. Richardson has never clone much hunting:. He has killed 
] irairie chickens and Avild geese occasionally, and has chased prairie 
wolves. He says the wolves in Illinois were numerous enough, 
but never so thick as in Indiana. While he was in the Wabash 
country in Indiana the wolves came to the house and peeped in 
at the window. It was impossible to get the pig-pen close enough 
to the house to protect the pigs from the wolves. The great 
amount of timber in Indiana afforded cover to the wolves and 
they were therefore more numerous and saucy than in Illinois. 

Mr. Richardson has had much experience with fires on the 
prairie. He says that when they sweep over the prairie they run 
in currents or veins, that is, one part shoots far ahead of the rest 
and the fire on each side moves mbre slowly. He has often fought 
fire, 'out learned to manage the matter without becoming excited. 
One of his houses occupied by a tenant came near destruction by 
a prairie lire, but Mr. Richardson hastened out and made a back 
tire which saved it. The tire had a large sweep over the prairie 
as scarcely anything interposed to check it between Diamond 
and Randolph's Grove on the west and Buckle's Grove on the 
cast. 

Mr. Richardson followed up teaming until the railroads began 
to come through. He hauled wheat to Chicago, Peoria and Re- 
kin. He worked harder than he should have done: nevertheless 



m'lean county. 513 

he lias enjoyed good health, and never had a doctor called on his 
account since lie was eleven of age. His habits have been re- 
markably temperate. He never chewed or smoked tobacco, or 
drank liquor enough to affect him. He has lived since the year 
1841 on the place where he now resides, south of Diamond Grove, 
in Downs Township. 

On the fourth of September, 1863, Mr. Richardson took a trip 
to ]STew Orleans to visit his son, John W. Richardson, who was 
sick in the hospital there. He went to Cairo and there took the 
steamboat Champion, loaded with government supplies, and went 
to Memphis. From that place the steamboat was escorted by a 
gunboat as it was liable, if unprotected, to be fired into by the 
rebels. He went down to a convalescent hospital, seven miles 
this side of !New Orleans, and there found his son, who was better 
than expected. While returning, Mr. Richardson took a deck 
passage with twenty-two sick soldiers. He waited on the soldiers 
as well as he could and tried to make them comfortable. When 
they arrived at Memphis the boat was pressed to go on the Red 
River expedition with General Banks, and Mr. Richardson was 
obliged to reship. The boat which he left was manned by a creW 
of rebel sympathizers and it caught fire and was burnt up, and it 
was thought that the crew set it on fire. At Vicksburg Mr. Rich- 
ardson went to see Whistling Dick, a famous gun near there, 
which shot a long distance. As he was rather curious to see the 
inventions which are made for the destruction of life, he exam- 
ined some percussion shell which he saAv lying in a pile, and, 
without knowing the dangerous material he was handling, care- 
lessly tossed one of them back into the pile ! By good fortune 
it did not explode. He returned home without further adventure. 
He was well treated by the soldiers on this trip and always felt 
himself safe with them. 

Mr. Richardson married, January 17, 1833, at Fort Harrison, 
Indiana, Mary Welch, a sister of Henry Welch, of Downs town- 
ship. She died March 6, 1870, aged fifty-seven years and six 
months. 

Mr. Richardson has had eight children, seven of whom are 
living. They are : 

Elizabeth, wife of Duncan M. Funk, lives in Bloomington. 

Caroline, widow of Charles Barker, lives in Bloomington. 
33 



514 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Susan, wife of Daniel Mason, lives in Downs township. 

Misses Sarah and Ann Richardson live at home with their 
father. 

The eldest son, Samuel L. Richardson, lives in Downs town- 
ship. 

The second son is John W. Richardson. 

Mr. Richardson is of medium height, rather slim, hut well 
formed, wiry and tough. He has a good-natured Roman nose, and 
his face wears a pleasant, kind expression. He is a very plucky and 
determined man, and he has a lively sense of justice. His dispo- 
sition is well shown by his remark that while passing a stranger 
he always took one-half of the road and gave the other half. In 
other words, he is willing and anxious to give men their due, hut 
insists that they shall give up what belongs to him. He is a man 
of honor, and never deserted the post of danger. His neighbors 
speak highly of him, and say that while that most dreaded pesti- 
lence, the cholera, was carrying off its victims in 1853, Mr. Rich- 
ardson never hesitated a moment about visiting the sick, and 
affording all the relief in his power. He has grandchildren 
around him, and leads a happy life, and his friends hope that his 
days may yet be long and that he may enjoy the competence he 
has worked so hard to obtain. 



DRY GROVE. 

Henry Vansickles. 

The following items of Mr. Vansickles were furnished by his 
son-in-law, Charles J. McClure, of Eldora, Iowa : 

Henry Vansickles was born in Green County, Pennsylvania, 
March 4, 1793. At the age of seven years he emigrated to West- 
ern Virginia with his parents, Anthony and Rebecca Vansickles. 
A t the age of nineteen he enlisted under his father, Captain An- 
thony Vansickles, and served six months in the war of 1812, 
enduring many hardships and privations. 

In about the year 1815 he married Miss Elizabeth Gilston, of 
Louisburg, Virginia, and shortly afterwards moved in a flat-boat 
to White County, Illinois, near the present village of Carmi. 
There they lived in a log cabin, with a bed quilt for a door. One 



m'lean goukty. 515 

day a large panther came in front of the house, while Mrs. Van- 
sickles was there alone. The animal raised itself up, placing its 
fore-feet on a log, and took a good view of the premises. Mrs. 
Yansickles picked up an axe and stood at the door ready for fight, 
hut the panther walked oft*. 

The Vansickles family came to McLean County in the fall of 
182(3, and commenced improving land at the west end of Bloom- 
ing Grove on Sugar Creek. There he made an improvement on 
the creek bottom, and in the following spring he planted a crop. 
But the rains descended and the floods came, and a June freshet 
destroyed a portion of his crop and washed away his fence. 
Before this he had due out some logs to use as vats in tanning 
deer skins, and he lashed these vats together and used them as a 
boat to save his rails. 

He left Sugar Creek after this wet experience, went to Dry 
Grove, built a cabin and took possession of it in January, 1828. 
The nearest market then was Springfield, which was eighty miles 
distant. He supplied the family with venison and honey by his 
skill in hunting. He raised corn, pounded it in a mortar, or took 
it to some little "corn cracker"' mill to get it ground. He raised 
wheat, cut it with a sickle, threshed it out with a flail or 
tramped it out with his horses, took it one hundred and 
sixty miles distant, to Chicago, sold it for thirty-five cents 
per bushel, and took one-half of his pay in store goods, 
when coffee was fifty cents per pound and calico was from twen- 
ty-five to fifty cents per yard. He then drove a four-horse team, 
managing it with a single line and riding the wheel-horse. He 
raised sheep, and his daughters learned to card wool and spin. 
He made a loom, and his active, industrious daughters made 
cloth enough for family use and some to sell. He was very suc- 
cessful, notwithstanding all of liis difficulties, and he owed his 
success in a great measure to his daughters, who always made 
themselves useful. They were a blessing to their father and 
mother, and those who were afterwards married, were a blessing 
to their husbands. 

The eldest daughter, Clarinda, was never married, hut still 
lives with her mother, and tenderly cares for her. 

The second daughter, Sarepta, was married in 1845 to Charles 
J. McClure, second son of Colonel Robert McClure, of Stout's 
Grove, and now lives near Eldora, Iowa. 



516 OLD SETTLERS OF 

The third daughter, Rebecca, was married in 185-t to John 
Peters, and now also lives near Eldora, Iowa. 

The fourth daughter, Maria Louise, was married in the year 
1845 to James M. Buckner, son of Henry Buckner, of Stout's 
Grove, and now lives near Salem, Nebraska. 

James G. Vansickles, the eldest son, married in 1845 Miss 
Mary Green, daughter of Reilley Green. He lives at the present 
time in Hardin County, Iowa, near Steamboat Rock. 

John H. Vansickles went to Bourbon Count}", Kansas, and 
there married Miss Martha Stevenson. During the war he served 
two years as Captain of a company of home guards, and was 
tinally killed while charging on a rebel camp. 

After all of Mr. Vansickles' children were married, except 
Clarinda, he sold his farm to a Mr. Otto, and his residence in 
Concord (now Danvers) to Levi Danley, and in the fall of 1864 
moved to Eldora, Iowa. There he bought a fine residence and a 
tine farm, and lived in the enjoyment of reasonable health and 
plenty until the tenth of September, 1867, when he died from a 
stroke of apoplexy. Mrs. Vansickles and her daughter Clarinda 
still reside at the homestead at Eldora. A beautiful marble mon- 
ument, three miles east of Eldora in the Cumberland Presbyte- 
rian Cemetery, marks the spot where sleeps all that is earthly of 
Henry Vansickles. 

Stephen Webb. 

Stephen Webb was born May 8, 1797, in Burke County, North 
Carolina. His father's name was William Webb, and his mother's 
name, before her marriage, was Nancy Humphreys. His father 
was of English descent and a little of Irish. His mother's an- 
cestors came from Ireland, but were probably originally from 
England. Mr. Webb lived in Burke County, North Carolina, 
until he was seven years of age, when he came to Barron County, 
Kentucky, where he lived twelve years. 

In about the year 1815, he moved with his father's family to 
Overton County, Tennessee, where he went to farming. He was 
a sharp sportsman, and hunted turkeys, deer and wolves. About 
three miles from where he lived was a cave, which made a den 
for a pair of large gray wolves, which had raised eight cubs. One 
of the old wolves was caught in a steel-trap, and the settlers 



m'lean county. 517 

turned out to catch the rest in the den. The dogs were sent into 
the don and they killed and brought out the eight cubs, but the 
old wolf was protected by a crevice, where only her head, ap- 
peared, and the dogs could not get hold of her to bring her out. 
Mr. Webb volunteered to go in and shoot her. He crawled into 
the den with his knife at his side and his gun in his hand, and 
was lighted by a candle, fastened to the muzzle of his gun. His 
brother James followed after him. Stephen Webb crawled in 
until he saw the wolf, tired at it, handed his gun back to his 
brother, and dragged the animal out. It was shot between the 
eyes, but a little too low. It revived after being brought out and 
showed fight, but was easily killed. Stephen and James Webb 
received ten dollars for their exploit. Mr. Webb says that when 
the gun was fired in the cave it sounded no louder than a pop- 
gun. 

The Webb family had a farm in Tennessee, and they also 
kept a tavern on the Cumberland Mountains on the turnpike 
road between Nashville and Khoxville. Their tavern was about 
midway between these places. Stephen Webb hauled corn with 
a four horse team from a plantation at the foot of the mountains 
up to the top to supply the hotel. lie drove the team by riding 
one of the wheel horses, and driving with a single line. At one 
time, while driving; down the mountain, bis horses took fright at 
some pigs that came suddenly out of the brush, and team and 
wagon went sailing down the mountain side. Mr. Webb stuck 
to Ins horses but unfortunately broke his line in trying to stop 
them. At the foot of the mountain was a sharp turn, but the 
horses went straight ahead overan enormous log three feet thick. 
Mr. Webb tried to leap from his horse, when he came within 
twenty feet of the log, but landed on the other side of it. When 
the wagon struck the log, the box went sailing over the helpless 
driver. Mr. Webb laid where he fell, for his knee was dislocated 
and also his ancle. He feels in his knee, at the present time, the 
effect of that fall. 

On the 10th of December, 1824, Mr. Webb married Penina 
Hinshaw. They lived in Tennessee until they came to Illinois in 
1826. During 1 that year be made a visit to Illinois with old 
George Hinshaw. They traveled in a little two-horse wagon 
over Central Illinois, and started for Chicago, but lost their way 



518 OLD SETTLERS OF 

and could find nothing but Indians, who wore unable to direct 
them. They came down the Desplains River to where Ottawa 
iioav is, and there found three families. From this place they re- 
turned to Tennessee. In June, 1827, the families of Stephen 
Webb, William McCord and George and Jacob Hinshaw, started 
for Illinois with teams. They had a pleasant journey until they 
readied the Ohio River. While there the wet season set in, and 
the streams were all overflowing. The travelers were frequently 
water-bound. They crossed the streams by taking their goods 
over in canoes and swimming their horses across with the wagons. 
At the Sangamon River they determined to make a raft and were 
obliged to swim the stream and push their clothes across in wash- 
tubs. They made their raft and brought over their teams and 
wagons. When they arrived at Cheney's Grove, old George 
Hinshaw said he would go no farther, as he was sick of unpacking 
his goods at every little stream in order to get across. The Hin- 
shaws remained there for a time, and Mr. Webb and Mr. Mc- 
Cord went on. They were water-bound for a while at Money 
Creek, but after crossing it they came to Twin Grove. Here 
the}' stopped, intending in the fall to go up to the Kankakee 
River, where Mr. Webb had made a claim during the previous 
year. But in the fall many rumors came concerning the diffi- 
culties with the Winnebago Indians in the mining country around 
Galena, and Mr. Webb thought it hardly safe to go any farther 
north; so he made a claim at Twin Grove in the southwestern 
corner. When the land came into market he traded his improve- 
ment for eighty acres of entered land on the northwestern corner 
of the grove. During the third winter after their arrival, Mr. 
Webb, George Hinshaw and William McCord started north to 
the Kankakee. They each furnished a horse which they hitched 
to Mr. Webb's wagon and started. When they arrived near 
Ottawa, two of their horses strayed off during the night. Mr. 
Webb and Mr. Hinshaw went to hunt for them while Mr. McCord 
remained with the wagon. The two men followed the trail of the 
lost horses one day and slept in some brush at night. They had 
nothing to eat but an ear of corn. Mr. Hinshaw came near freez- 
ing to death, but was warmed by a fire which they succeeded in 
kindling. They came to the Mackinaw and found it waist deep 
with drift ice running;. They waded it and came out on the 



m'lean county. 519 

prairie, and there they found a road which Mr. Webb recog- 
nized. But he was so confused by cold and the suffering they en- 
dured that lie could not decide which end of the road led towards 
home. After traveling on the road some distance they came to 
some holes where Indians had formerly buried corn, and there 
Mr. "Webb saw that they had been going the wrong way. Mr. 
Hinshaw suffered so much with cold that he said "Let's crawl 
into these holes and die." But Mr. Webb insisted on making 
another trial for life. They turned towards home and came to a 
creek, which was frozen over with ice too thin to bear them while 
walking; so they laid down and scratched and wriggled across. 
While Hinshaw was scratching and working himself over, the 
ice cracked under him, but he was suffering so severely that he 
was almost anxious to die, and said: "Let it break, let it break;"' 
but he succeeded in dragging himself over. They went down to 
Lewis Soward's house, stayed there all night and went home. 
As soon as possible Mr. Webb took two horses and went to Otta- 
wa and brought back McCord and the wagon. On their return, 
during one foggy day, their heads became " turned around," and 
they thought that north w T as south and east was west, and the 
first intimation they had of their mistake was finding themselves 
traveling back on their own track. 

Mr. W r ebb did not suffer much during the winter of the deep 
snow, as he had previously gathered his corn and was ready for 
any emergency. On the day when the heavy fall of snow T came, 
he w^as on the prairie returning from Ollendorff's mill. He was 
obliged to leave his wagon and come home with the horses. He 
has a very lively recollection of the sudden change which took 
place in December, 1836. He says that some cocks which were 
standing in the slush at that time had their tails frozen fast and 
in getting loose left their feathers in the ice. 

In about the year 1848 Mr. Webb went to Texas to pay his 
brother-in-law a sum of money, and on his return w r as ice-bound 
at the mouth of the Ohio River by a gorge in the Mississippi. He 
was obliged to walk through the sloughs to Springfield and from 
there went home by stage. 

Mr. Webb has six living children. They are : 

John Webb, who was born in Tennessee and lives in Indian- 
ola, Warren Couutv, Iowa. 



520 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Kelly Webb lives three miles north of his father's. 

William Webb lives three miles south of his father's. 

Benjamin Webb lives near Kelly Webb, three miles north of 
his father's. 

Thomas Webb lives in Dale County, Missouri. 

Milton Webb lives a quarter of a mile north of his father's. 

Stephen Webb is six feet and two inches in height. His hair 
and beard are full and white. He is very strong and courageous, 
hut his modesty and good nature are greater than his courage. 
He has a humorous disposition and a hopeful temperament. It is 
clearly seen that heisavery honest man, for not many people in this 
world would travel to Texas to pay a debt. He says, however, 
that he was curious on that trip to see the country and that this was 
one of his reasons for going. The old gentleman's modesty and 
good nature make him peculiarly pleasant and companionable. 

George M. Hinshaw. 

George M. Hinshaw was born April 25, 1820, in Overton 
County, Tennessee. His father's name was Jacob Hinshaw, and 
his mother's maiden name was Marietta Johnson. Jacob Hin- 
shaw was horn in North Carolina, but was of Irish descent. 
When twenty-one or two years of age, he came to Tennessee, and 
there was married. He had a common school education and 
taught school in Tennessee for two terms. In 1827 he came to 
McLean County with his brother George Hinshaw, William Mc- 
Cord and Stephen Webb. They came with teams, and were 
often water-bound, because of the heavy rains, but arrived at 
Blooming Grove on the last of July, 1827. There the Hinshaws 
farmed for three years, and then moved to Dry Grove. When 
Jacob Hinshaw came to the latter place, he sold all of his stock, 
except a cow and a horse, in order to enter eighty acres of land. 
During the winter of the deep snow he and young George 
gathered corn in sacks and brought it in from the field on horse- 
back. 

Jacob Hinshaw was deformed in his feet, and while chopping 
in the timber stood on his knees and often walked in this way 
after the plow. He could never bear the taste or even the smell 
of whisky, and he ate no meat except fish. He died in 1845 in 
easy circumstances, lie had eight children, of whom six arc 
living. They are : 



m'lean county. 521 

Susannah, widow of Amasa Stout, lives in Dry Grove 

Nancy, widow of Jesse Benson, lives at White Oak Grove. 

George M. Ilinsliaw lives in Dale township. 

Mary, wife of Solomon Mason, lives in Linn County, Kansas. 

Jane G., widow of Amos Mason, lives in Iowa. 

Benjamin Ilinsliaw lives in Linn County, Kansas. 

George M. Ilinsliaw was only seven years of age when his 
parents came to the West in 1827. He was not much exposed to 
the terrible rain storms, but remained in the covered wagon. He 
saw the hardships common to the early pioneers. In 1842 he 
joined the Christian Church. In 1848 he was chosen elder, and 
holds this office at the present time. The Twin Grove Christian 
Church is strong in numbers and spirit, and its members enjoy 
good religious feeling. In the spring of 1845, Mr. Hinshaw 
moved to the place where he now lives, just south of Dry Grove 
and west of Twin Grove. He lives in Dry Grove township, but 
belongs to the Twin Grove church, and his children attend the 
Twin Grove school. 

On the twentieth of November, 1844, Mr. Hinshaw married 
Martha Ann Ward. He has had twelve children, of whom six 
are living. They are : 

Emma, wife of John Wyatt, lives at Stephen Webb's. 

Laura, wife of Eli Johnson, lives just south of her father's. 

Orlando, Fernando, Ernest and Vitula, live at home. 

Mr. Hinshaw is six feet in height, is slim in build, has rather 
a long face, with fine regular features. His hair is partly gray, 
and is full on his head. He wears spectacles while reading. He 
is considerate with regard to other men's rights and feelings, and 
is absolutely honest in all things. His countenance wears the 
pleasant expression of honesty and content. He has been suc- 
cessful in his dealings, and is an example of the care of an over- 
ruling Providence. 

Benjamin Sanders Beeler. 

Benjamin S. Beeler was born October 18, 1825, in Butler 
County, Ohio. His father's name was George Beeler, and his 
mother's maiden name was Delila Sheeley. He is of English and 
German descent. His grandfather Beeler was a soldier of the 
Revolutionary war. Benjamin Beeler came to Twin Grove in 



522 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Tazewell, now McLean, County in October, 1830. Tie had a 
rough time, and was three weeks on his journey. He came 
through in Indiana, where the roads were in a great measure 
blockaded by timber, which had been blown down by a hurri- 
cane. His father, George Beeler, bought a claim and lived du- 
ring the rirst year in a little log cabin. It was for a while very 
difficult to get something to eat, and the family was obliged to 
pay fifty cents per bushel for corn and gather it themselves. They 
were much troubled by wolves, and could not get their stock 
near enough to the house for protection. The wolves were im- 
pudent during the day time, and came up within fifty yards of 
the house. The wild-cats were very dangerous and troublesome 
in Twin Grove when the early settlers came, and people often had 
very exciting sport in chasing them. They sometimes started out 
on ring hunts after all kinds of game. This was exciting and 
dangerous sport; it was not particularly dangerous on account of 
the ferocious character of the game, but it was dangerous because 
the excited hunters would sometimes run into ant-hills or badger's 
holes and break their horses' necks. 

Benjamin Beeler remembers the sudden change in the weather 
in December, 1836, when everything was so suddenly frozen up, 
and he also remembers another sudden change since then, which 
was very severe. He was going to Bloomington, and was cross- 
ing Sugar Creek, when his horse broke the ice very easily, but on 
his return, without delay, the ice on the creek bore his horse's 
weight without cracking. Nevertheless, this sudden change was 
not so severe as the one in 1836, which was the worst ever known 
in the West. 

Benjamin Beeler married, February 25, 1849, Sarilda Robin- 
son. He has had ten children, of whom eight are living. He is 
five feet and ten or eleven inches in height, has a good head, has 
brown hair which inclines to curl, is rather slow of speech, is 
straightforward in his transactions, wishes to do by his neighbors 
fairly, and is much respected in the community where he re- 
sides. 

Mr. Beeler has eight living children. They are : Benjamin 
F., who is a carpenter, Mary Delila, George L., Huldah Ellen, 
Alpharetta, Owen, Warren and Rosa. All live at home. 



m'lean county. 523 

< >rmond robison. 

Ormond Robison was born in Tennessee, January 23, 1805. 
He was married, February 17, 1<X2<!, in Overton County, Tennes- 
see. In 1830 he came to Blooming Grove, in what is now Mc- 
Lean County, Illinois. * His family suffered on the journey very 
much for want of water and because of the dust, for the season 
was very dry. In 1832 they moved to Dry Grove, and in 1835 to 
White Oak Grove, where they lived until the death of Mr. Robi- 
son, which occurred in 1851. 

When they first came to Illinois, they had very unpleasant 
times, and were oppressed by the dangers and difficulties of a 
new country. They paid fifty cents per bushel for the corn they 
ate, and the}- picked it from the field themselves. When the deep 
snow fell, Mr. Robison and William Hinshawhad gone fifty miles 
distant to mill, and they had a fearful time in returning. Three 
teams went out to meet them and assist them out of the snow. 

Mrs. Robison, who gives the items for this sketch, speaks par- 
ticularly of the fires which swept over the prairie and sometimes 
came into the timber and burnt up the young trees, and those 
which were dead. Sometimes a tree would burn for several days 
before it would fall. The settlers were so frightened by the 
prairie fires that they wished to go back to where they came from ; 
but this was impossible, as the most of them found it difficult to 
get away. 

The settlers killed game of all kinds, for it was plenty. They 
killed prairie chickens by catching them in traps. They had what 
was called the fall-door trap. A hole was dug with a board put 
over it on a pivot, and a bait fastened to one end. When a 
chicken attempted so seize the bait the board allowed the chicken 
to drop into the hole, and then turned back to its place. The 
hunters killed a great many turkeys in the spring, in gobbling 
time. They chirped through a quill, making a sound resembling 
that of a hen turkey, and soon some gobbler would make his ap- 
pearance and the hunter would shoot him down. The settlers 
were much troubled by wildcats, which caught lambs and pigs, 
but would never fight the hunters unless cornered. 

Mr. Robison endured the trials to which nearly all of the early 
settlers were subjected. He w r orked for fifty cents per day, 
cradled wheat for that, and was glad of the opportunity. 



•5:24 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Ormond Robison had ten children, of whom five are now 
living. They are : 

Mrs. Sarilda Beeler, wife of Benjamin Beeler, who lives on 
the east side of Twin Grove. Her aged mother, Mrs. Robison, 
resides with her. 

Levi Preston Robison lives at New Windsor, Knox County, 
Illinois. 

Mrs. Louisa Williams, wife of Philip Williams, lives on the 
old homestead at White Oak Grove, in Woodford County. 

George Hamilton Robison lives at White Oak Grove in 
Woodford County. 

Mrs. Neety Ann Benson, wife of George H. Benson, lives in 
Champaign County, Illinois. 

Ormond Robison was a man of medium height, rather slim, 
pretty strong and very healthy. He had seldom or never been 
sick, before he contracted the disease which was fatal to him. 
He was a good workman and pretty skillful at anything, whether 
it was farming, carpenter work or blacksmithing. He was pretty 
successful in life, and by his skill and industry acquired enough 
property to make him comfortable. 

John Enlow. 

John Enlow was born June 15, 1801, in Christian County. 
Kentucky. His father's name was Abraham Enlow, and his 
mother's name before her marriage was Jemima Johnson. John 
Enlow was partly of Dutch descent. He married in February, 
1826, Catherine Lander. He lived on a farm in Kentucky, which 
he sold on coming to Illinois, which was in the fall of 1835. He 
had no particular adventure on his journey. On his arrival he 
settled on the east side of Twin Grove on the prairie and went to 
fanning. He was a consistent member of the Baptist Church. 
which he joined three or four years after he came to the West. 
He died April 19, 1860. He had eight children, seven of whom 
are now living. They are : 

Mrs. Sally Ann Depew, widow of Joel Depew, lives inBloom- 
ington. 

Mrs. Jemima Jane Myers, wife of Aaron Myers, lives in 
Bloomington. 

James Enlow lives near Covel in Dale township. 



m'lean county. 525 

Mrs. Ann Eliza Kennedy, wife of William L. Kennedy, lives 
in Bloomington. 

John Enlow, jr., and Jesse Enlow both live near the east side 
of Twin Grove, on parts of the homestead land. 

Mrs. Ella Shope, wife of Adam Shope, lives in Bloomington. 

Mr. John Enlow was six feet in height and rather a slender 
man. He had a dark complexion, dark hair and eyes. He was 
a kind father to his family and a very honest and much respected 
man. 

Eleazer Munsell. 

Eleazer Munsell was born July 28, 1824, in Seneca County, 
Ohio. His father's name was Roswell Munsell and his mother's 
name was Sarah Austin. Eleazer Munsell lived in Ohio until the 
year 1831, when he came with his father's family to Laporte 
County, Indiana. There he lived until 1837 when he came to 
Illinois. 

While he lived in Indiana he was often accustomed to go 
hunting with the little Indian boys and kill birds and sqirrels 
with their bows and arrows. He frequently attended Indian 
dances, and has often seen the Pottawatomies perform their war 
dance, smoke the pipe of peace and go through with their reli- 
gious ceremonies. At their war dances they had weasel skins to 
which bells were attached. They would divide into two parties 
and come together with their weasel skins and war clubs, and 
pretend to kill each other. Some would fall down, apparently 
lifeless, while others would go through the motions of scalping. 
They would often collect together in a wigwam and dance to the 
music of a gourd containing stones or shot. Sometimes they 
would hit each other a fap with a weasel skin ; this was an invi- 
tation to dance. The young braves asked the young squaws to 
dance by tapping them with the weasel skin, and the young 
squaws asked the braves to dance in the same way. They began 
dancing in the morning, and at about one o'clock stopped for 
dinner, which consisted of soup made of dried meat, dried corn 
and dried blood, all boiled together in copper kettles. They ate 
their dinner out of large wooden bowls, which held six or eight 
gallons. Each had a ladle and helped himself. About a dozen 
of them sat down in a place, and ate out of a bowl. The dance 



526 OLD .SETTLERS OF 

was generally continued in the afternoon and evening and lasted 
usually two days. At the end of two days they had a religions 
ceremony, the sacrifice of a white dog. On one of these grand 
occasions, when about five hundred Indians were present, the 
chief became drunk, and the white dog was not burned as the 
ceremony required. When it was pretty well roasted, it was 
snatched from the tire and eaten up. The sacrifice of the white 
dog usually ended the dance. While the young braves and squaws 
were dancing, the old folks would gather into a wigwam and 
smoke the pipe of peace. Each would smoke and hand the pipe 
to his neighbor until it went clear around. The Indians were 
very still in their dances and said nothing until one of them struck 
another with a weasel skin, as an invitation to dance. The strik- 
ing with the weasel skin was accompanied by an exclamation 
"ye pooh," and no other words were spoken. Mr. Munsell says 
that so far as he had any dealings with the Indians he found them 
very honorable and friendly. They were peaceable even when 
drunk. The Indian braves never failed to get drunk whenever 
they had an opportunity. They raised corn sometimes, which 
was tended by squaws, who cultivated it with hoes altogether, 
digging up the hills as high as if for sweet potatoes. Whenever 
the} - moved they packed everything on their ponies, even their 
doo-s and squaws. Their pappooses were carried lashed to a 
board, from which they were not usually taken for several months. 
These boards had attached to them pieces of buckskin, which 
went around the heads of the squaws. When the squaws came 
into cam] i they cut branches of trees and set them up and hung 
the pappooses to them or to the limbs of trees. It was the duty 
of the squaws to chop the wood and build the tires in the middle 
of the wigwams. Around a tire sat an Indian and his family on 
mattresses made of rushes. The Indians cooked fish, chickens, 
muskrats, squirrels, coons, venison, and in fact every kind of 
meat they might happen to have, in a kettle at once. In the 
spring-time the Indians caught sugar water in troughs made of 
birch bark, with the ends stopped up by drawing them together 
and sewing them tight. These troughs would usually be large 
enough to hold a bucket of water. 

The Black Hawk war in 1832 was a great event in the West, 
and the scare extended to Indiana, where the settlers built forts 
for protection. Mr. Munsell lived tor six months in a tort. 



m'lean (<n NTY. 527 

The Munsel] family came to Twin Grove, McLean Gounty, 
Illinois, in the spring of L837. They arrived here on the first of 
June. Mr. Munsell, sr., after farming for some rime, broke up 
housekeeping and lived with his eldest son. He died in ls.">4. 
He brought the first threshing machine to the country from Indi- 
ana. It was a machine which only threshed the wheat, tt was 
necessary after threshing the wheat to rake off the straw and run 
the mixed wheat and chaff through a fanning mill and a sepa- 
rator. 

Eleazer Munsell has often driven stock to Chicago. He re- 
members one very exciting adventure with a drove of cattle and 
sheep, which he was taking to Chicago. When he arrived near 
Pontiac they became frightened one night at about eleven o'clock, 
by wolves, and stampeded. The cattle ran over the sheep and 
killed some thirty of them. The men in charge of the cattle did 
everything possible for two hours to quiet them, but notwith- 
standing all exertions, about fifty head of cattle broke away. 
Their trail was followed the next day, and they were found near 
Lexington and brought back. Mr. Munsell says that the excite- 
ment during a stampede is intense, and he never wishes to see 
another. 

The prices of cattle formerly varied very much and sometimes 
were so low as to seem almost to be given away. Mr. Munsell 
bought good cows for six dollars apiece, and good yokes of 
oxen for twenty-five dollars. He has bought sheep for fifty cents 
per head. He has sold number one fall wheat for twenty-five 
cents per bushel, and oats for five cents. 

Mr. Munsell married, October 24, 1850, Zerilda Perry, and 
has seven children living. Mrs. Munsell is a very kind lady, and 
thinks everything of her children. She likes to see them do well 
at school, and takes a great interest in the progress the}* make in 
their studies. 

Eleazer Munsell is six feet in height. His hair begins to show 
the effect of time, and a few gray hairs make their appearance in 
his beard. He is very clever, loves a joke as well as Abraham 
Lincoln ever did : is very kind to his family; is careful in the 
management of his farm; has been successful in life, and is 
much respected by his neighbors. His face is broad and good- 
natured, and it indicates good feeling and good sense. 



528 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Munsell's children are : Milon, who attends school at 
Eureka; Stephen Alpheus, Zerilda, John Roswell, Josephine, 
Minnie Warren, and Austin Eleazer, who all live at home. 



EMPIRE. 

Robert Franklin Dickerson. 

As Mr. Dickerson is known to be quite lively with his quill, 
the author requested him to write a sketch of his life, and he 
has given the following, which is very interesting : 

I was born in Hamilton County, Illinois, October 30, 1822. 
My father, Michael Dickerson, died in 1836. My mother is yet 
living and is seventy-one years old past. We emigrated to this 
county, then Fayette, in 1825, and settled near Sugar Creek, near 
the western line of the county. In 1826 my parents moved to 
Randolph's Grove, to the place where Martin L. Bishop now 
lives. My father built a small water mill on Kickapoo, where 
the early settlers came to get their grinding done. Many a day 
I have sat and fed in the flour to be bolted. 

On the 23rd of June, 1827, the great storm came, which rooted 
up and blew down the trees in its course through Old Town tim- 
ber. In the fall of 1828 my father sold his claim and his mill to 
William Hampton, a Tennesseean, who is remembered by many 
who are yet living. My father then settled at Long Point, now 
in De Witt County, and lived there until the fall of 1830. He 
then sold his claim to Frederick Troxwell and purchased the claim 
of Mr. Bennett, where Henry C. Dickerson now lives, near the 
present town of Leroy. He moved on this place November 2, 
1830. The famous deep snow began falling I )ecember 3 of the 
following winter, and continued nearly every day through the fore 
part of January, 1831. I well remember the events of those days 
and could give the names of all old settlers around the groves of 
McLean County. 

The hydrophobia broke out among the canine race domestica- 
ted, in 1832, and two persons were said to have been bitten ; hut 
the only suffering they endured resulted from distress of mind. 
I am no great lover of dogs. 

The great fall of meteors occurred November 14, 1833. They 
seemed to be showers of fiery rain falling to the ground. 



m'lean county. 529 

At the first school I ever attended I was allowed to do pretty 
much as I pleased. I went out of the school-room and came 
back when I pleased, and no one dared to molest me or make me 
afraid. But at the next school I attended, in 1832,1 was obliged 
to do a little as others said. I went to school for a while to lame 
William Johnson, now of Kansas and learned to spell as far as 
" baker," " brier," etc. I next went to Amasa C. Washburn, now 
of your city. He once chastised me for fighting, but the boys had 
to be dealt with severely then, though not more so than some boys 
should be dealt with now. A larger boy kicked my dog and I 
gave the vicious lad a blow in the eye. Mr. Washburn caught 
us at this interesting performance and at evening after prayer he 
said: "Reuben, 'I will have to chastise you," and Reuben re- 
ceived five gentle strokes with a switch, and was dismissed. I and 
Mr. Washburn then remained about half an hour enjoying, each 
other's society. That licking hurt me. 

Mr. Washburn and his lady taught the first Sabbath school I 
ever attended. 

I am sorry to say that in my youthful days I played some 
rather practical jokes. Old Uncle Thomas Tovery, M. E. preach- 
er, once held church at the school-house, and during the progress 
of the services I and another boy outside arranged a cat and dog 
fight, and the terrible scrimmage, the howls of the cat and the 
barking of the dog, broke up the services. The people ran out 
and said : "Kill the cat, it's mad ; take up the dog, run ;" etc. 
We were obliged to tell what we did, in order to save the cat's 
life. Uncle Tom's text was : " I am the bright and the morning 
star, the first and the last." Old Uncle Tom is dead ; he departed 
this life at Oskaloosa, Iowa. 

This grove was settled by John Buckles, sr., in 1828. He 
was a heavy man, weighing three hundred and eighty pounds. 
The Buckles family were Virginians, but part of them are Suck- 
ers, being born in this State. Some of them live among us yet. 
They are kind-hearted, generous and hospitable people, and love 
to hunt and fish. James Merrifield, sr., now deceased, with his 
family, settled here in the spring of 1830. Daniel and Henry 
Crumbaugh and Otho Merrifield, are early settlers, now living. 
Ambrose Hall, now of Atlanta, Logan County, Illinois, was an 
early settler. Thomas O. Rutledge, sr., was about to remove to 
34 



530 OLD SETTLERS OF 

this grove, but he sickened and died, August 20, 1830, and was 
buried in the cemetery east of Leroy. We have one soldier of 
the war of 1812; it is Daniel Crumbaugh, who fought under 
General Harrison. 

I grew up to manhood very much as other hoys have done. 
I have worked hard, have plowed for twenty-five cents per day, 
chopped wood for thirty, reaped wheat for fifty cents per day and 
cradled for fifty. I carried from Salt Creek the stone which was 
placed at the northeast corner of Leroy, and for this I received 
from A. Gridley the sum of twenty-five cents. I have had many 
dealings with Gridley and Covel, and always found them gentle- 
men. I paid my first tax of sixty-six cents to William McCul- 
lough, and received a receipt from his deputy, B. H. Coffey. It 
reads : 

" Rec'd of Robert F. Dickerson 66 cts in full of his State k 
County Tax for the year 1844. 

" ¥m. McCullough, Col. 
By B. H. Coffey." 

I was married, January 1, 1845, to Miss Harriet R. Ivarr. We 
kept house for three months on rented lands, without bedstead, 
chair or table. I had one pony, but no cow, hog, sheep or money. 
My wife, Harriet, was the only daughter of her father, Jacob 
Ivarr, by his first marriage. We have raised nine children, all of 
whom are living. When the rebellion broke out I sent two of 
my sons into the army. In political matters I have voted for 
men, when I knew them, regardless of party, but if I was unac- 
quainted with the candidates I voted the Democratic ticket. I 
voted for Stephen A. Douglas. I took the stump for the Indian- 
apolis, Bloomington and Western Railroad. I have considered 
it a privilege to help the soldiers and their widows and orphans. 
My children are nine in number. They are : 

Merrit M. Dickerson, who lives in Monticello, Illinois. He 
was in the army for a short time during the rebellion. He en- 
listed, February 15, 18(35, in the Ninety-fourth Illinois, and was 
present at the battles of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley. He 
was afterwards transferred to the Thirty-seventh Illinois, became 
clerk at headquarters at Galveston, Texas, and was discharged in 
February, 1806, at Houston, Texas. 

James L. Dickerson lives one mile northeast of Leroy. 



m'lean county. 531 

Martha E., wife of George Pray, lives at Smithland, Johnson 
County, Kansas. 

Emma E. Dickerson was, during the last year, a school-teacher 
at Heyworth. 

Clara C, Eda May, Franklin jr., Mary and Hattie, (the pet,) 
live at home. 

Henry Caleb Dickekson. 

Henry I 1 . Dickerson was born August 30, 1825, in Hamilton 
County, Illinois. His father's name was Michael Dickerson, and 
his mother's name before her marriage was Jane Rutledge. She 
still lives near Leroy with her youngest son Wesley. The Dick- 
erson family emigrated to that part of Fayette County, which 
now forms the county of McLean, in 1825, and settled near Sugar 
Creek, not far from the western boundary of the present McLean 
County. In 1826 the family moved to Randolph's Grove, and 
afterwards to Buckles' Grove. 

Mr. Dickerson attended school during three months in the 
year, until he was twenty years of age. He first attended a school 
kept by William Johnson, usually called "lame Billy." His 
plan of teaching was the one common to the time, that is, to re- 
quire the scholars to study their lessons aloud. Sometimes ■■ lame 
Billy"' would come to the school-room in bad humor, and, in- 
deed, he was very changeable in his disposition. He usually 
made a profession of religion about once a month. At one time 
while coming home from meeting, where he had made a profes- 
sion of religion, a prairie chicken flew up near the head of his 
horse, and the animal took fright and threw him to the ground. 
Under the excitement of the moment he used profane language 
and swore at his luck. Since that time all kinds of misfortune 
have been called Johnson's luck. Mr. Dickerson also attended 
school kept by A. C. Washburn. 

In the year 1845, Mr. Dickerson commenced farming on his 
own account, and soon afterwards began stock-raising. He bought 
stock first for other people and afterwards for himself. He first 
bought forty acres near Leroy, but afterwards bought the home- 
stead farm, containing one hundred and sixty acres, and known 
as the Michael Dickerson place. On this place is a large apple 
tree, which was planted by Michael Dickerson. The trunk of the 



532 OLD SETTLERS OF 

tree is nine feet and nine inches in circumference. It is of the 
variety called "Lady-finger." It bears fruit every year, and du- 
ring one season bore forty-five bushels of apples. Henry C. 
Dickerson has now nearly one thousand acres of land in McLean 
County, and between five and six hundred in Kansas. He is 
quick to see what will pay. He and his son-in-law, Hobart, built 
the large flouring-mill at Leroy, at a cost of $35,000. It is one 
of the best in the State. Mr. Dickerson is not now interested 
in it. 

In the year 1849 he bought a great deal of stock in the West- 
ern States for Crawford & Miller in Champaign County, Ohio. 
During this time he traveled on horseback, from Fort Des Moines 
to Oskaloosa, Iowa. He had with him fifteen thousand dollars. 
On his journey he came to the hollow or bank of a creek, and 
there found a band of thieves, belonging to the celebrated Red- 
don, Long and Fox gang. They gave him a sharp chase, but his 
good horse saved him. The next morning from fifty to one hun- 
dred men went out to hunt the gang, and found one of the Longs, 
a boy of nineteen. He was tied to a tree and whipped in order 
to compel him to tell where the remainder of the gang were con- 
cealed. Mr. Dickerson could not bear the sight of the whipping 
and went away. The gang was not captured. Mr. Dickerson 
was very successful during this trip, though at one time his cattle 
gave him some trouble by stampeding. 

In 1871 Mr. Dickerson took a pleasure excursion to Califor- 
nia. He started in April of that year, in company with two 
friends, Mr. McKenny and Rev. J. B. Seymour. On their route 
they stopped at Salt Lake City and called on Brighanl Young. 
They were introduced to the Mormon Prophet by Mr. Wickizer, 
who performed the ceremony in a peculiar manner. He said : 
"This is Mr. Dickerson, an enlightened heathen." The remainder 
of the company were introduced in the same manner. Brigham 
Young is a pleasant, unassuming man, lives in a ten-acre spot 
surrounded by a stone wall. In this enclosure is his large dwell- 
ing and various houses for his many wives. The tabernacle is a 
large edifice, and accommodates about fifteen thousand worship- 
pers. The organ in the tabernacle cost an immense sum of 
money, and is remarkable for its fine tone. Mr. Dickerson was 
favorably impressed with Salt Lake City, its theatre, beautiful 



m'lean county. 53-3 

shops, and streams of water flowing down from the mountain and 
forming rivulets on both sides of the streets. He listened to the 
preaching of Orson Pratt, and was much pleased with the elo- 
quence of this Mormon divine. 

On the twenty-seventh of October, 1850, Mr. Dickerson mar- 
ried Miss Leodicy Maxwell, only daughter of William Maxwell, 
of Old Town. He has had five children. They are : 

Elizabeth Jane, wife of Gilbert J. Hobart. She lives one and 
.a half miles^southwest of her father's. 

Cordelia, wife of Joseph Patterson, lives in Leroy. 

Adalaide, Rosaline and Georgie Belle live at home. 

Mr. Dickerson is five feet and ten inches in height, is well 
proportioned, has blue eyes, which do not require spectacles, is 
very quiet in his manner and is a first-class business man. His 
memory^is remarkably good. During his western trip in 1849, 
he bought three hundred and fifty-seven head of cattle, and he 
can call'to mind the price paid for each one of them. The father 
of Henry C. Dickerson was Michael Dickerson. The following 
are the names of his children, seven in number : 

James W. Dickerson lives in California. 

Sarah Ann, wife of Roley Williams, lives near Leroy. 

Robert Franklin Dickerson, whose sketch appears in this 
volume. 

Henry C. Dickerson, whose sketch appears above. 

Caleb C. Dickerson lives about three miles southwest of 
Leroy. 

Matilda, widow of John M. Downing, lives near Leroy. 

Wesley Dickerson lives three and one-half miles southwest of 
Leroy. 

Thomas Buckles. 

Thomas Buckles was born January 18, 1812, in White County. 
Illinois, His father's house was burnt while the old gentleman 
was serving with the rangers and protecting the frontier. His 
father moved to Edwards County at an early day, from there to 
Sangamon County, and in 1824 he went to Lake Fork, Logan 
County. He traveled with an ox-team, and was exposed to the 
weather. He camped one night near Horse Creek, and was 
sleeping under the wagon when it rained so hard that they were 



534 OLD SETTLERS OF 

overflowed, and the water came down the hillside and ran over 
their hed on which they were sleeping. They crossed Lick Creek 
by making a raft and bringing over their stock with it. Mr. 
Buckles, sr., was received by his son Robert in Logan County and 
built a house there. In this work he was helped by the Indians, 
who were good neighbors. They gave a dance when the house- 
raising was ended. One of the Indians became drunk, but was 
carried awaj- and tied down until he could sober off. 

Thomas Buckles' experience with the Indians began at an 
early date. When he was a very little boy he was chased by 
some Indians, who seemed anxious to take him prisoner, but his 
heels and his cunning saved him. He hid in the grass and wil- 
lows of a creek so that even the Indians did not find him. After 
the Indians left him he heard a mournful noise and found a coon 
with its hair burnt off by a prairie fire which had passed over the 
country a short time previous. The Buckles boys were accus- 
tomed to run races with the Indians and wrestle with them and 
engage with them in all kinds of athletic sports. At one time a 
party of Indians came to run races. They bet their buckskins 
against whatever was put up. They called on Andrew Buckles, 
a brother of Thomas, and put up their buckskins against some 
watermelons. Andrew ran with an Indian named Little Turkey, 
and allowed the latter to come out ahead in the first race. Then 
both parties put up larger bets for a second race, and this time 
Andrew came out ahead. Andrew was indeed a swift runner. 
He returned to Tennessee, and while there once saw some dogs 
after a deer ; he immediately ran after it himself, intending to 
catch it before it reached the Cumberland River. But the deer 
reached the river a little ahead and plunged in and Andrew fol- 
lowed it. He out-swam the deer and killed it by drowning. 

In 1827 the Buckles family left Logan County and came to 
Buckles' Grove. Here they devoted themselves to farming and 
hunting. 

Thomas Buckles' experience with the deep snow was interest- 
ing. A few days before the heavy fall of snow came, Thomas 
and Peter Buckles and Alvin Barnett started out to hunt for wild 
hogs. They killed several pigs and three or four deer. They 
stopped, during the night before the heavy snowfall, with a man 
named Mulkie. It was clear and beautiful and the stars were 



m'lean county. 535 

bright and thick in the sky. The morning opened clear and 
Mnlkie started to accompany Thomas Buckles home. Soon a 
hank of snow arose and it began to fall. "When they had gone 
four miles they abandoned their wagon and followed the oxen. 
The snow fell so fast that they could not see ten feet ahead of 
them, and the snow and icicles collected and froze two or three 
inches thick on their cheeks. Mr. Buckles says it came as fast 
as if it were thrown with a scoop-shovel. When within two 
miles of home they were almost broken down, but they took hold 
of the tails of their steers and were pulled safely through. The 
snow was then more than three feet deep. Mulkie was com- 
pletely exhausted, and could do nothing but sleep. Mr. Buckles 
says that when he arrived home he stayed there during the re- 
mainder of the snow storm, and had no ambition for travel. 

Mr. Buckles speaks of the sudden change in the weather in 
December, 1836, and says that the water froze in ridges as it was 
blown by the wind. His brother Robert was then taking a drove 
of hogs to Alton, and when the wind-storm struck him he was 
obliged to go a quarter of a mile for shelter. When his men 
arrived there they could scarcely stand. The hogs demanded 
the most constant attention, for if left to themselves they would 
pile on top of each other as high as a hog could climb, and those 
at the bottom of the pile would be smothered and crushed to 
death. 

The Buckles family were great hunters, and made a specialty 
of killing wolves. Thomas Buckles has, perhaps, killed more 
wolves than any other man in McLean County. He ran them 
down, shot them and caught them in traps and pens. A pen for 
catching wolves is made of logs and is so heavy that a wolf can 
not raise it. The bottom is made of logs or poles so that a wolf 
cannot escape by digging under. He usually took a wolf hunt 
every spring, and generally killed five or six. He chased one 
wolf tifteen miles before catching it, and, when caught, it could 
not have been made to live fifteen minutes. It was run to death. 
It was chased from Buckles' Grove to near the west end of Old 
Town timber, then down to Long Point, then back to Buckles' 
Grove, then down into DeWitt County where it was caught. 
One wolf, after being chased many miles, jumped into a well and 
there was killed. 



536 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Buckles has liad an interesting experience in hunting 
deer. He once wounded a deer in the fore leg and it turned for 
fight with its hair all standing up. When one of the dogs took 
hold of it, it turned so fiercely and quickly and made so sudden 
a dart that it ran its horns in the ground and turned over on its 
back. Another shot ended its life. William and Thomas 
Buckles once chased a fawn until it was tired out and, when Wil- 
liam approached, it made a spring from him into Thomas Buckles' 
arms. But it died shortly after, because of the length and se- 
verity of the chase. During the winter of the deep snow two of 
the Buckles brothers caught a deer and hoppled it, and tried to 
drive it home. It was very docile until Thomas Buckles tapped 
it on the nose with a weed, when it sprang up and knocked him 
down and jumped away. The next morning it was found frozen 
to death. As it was hoppled it could not exercise and the circu- 
lation of blood was checked. 

Mr. Buckles is a skillful woodman and seldom deceived as to 
his position. He could always find his camp, even at night when 
it was so dark that he could hardly see his hand before him. He 
often hunted bees in the timber and had a sharp eye to detect 
their holes in the trees. He once went with a party of bee hunters 
down on the Kankakee River, and was gone five weeks. They 
found from fifty to sixty bee trees. 

Mr. Buckles has never had any very dangerous experience 
with fire on the prairie. He once was overtaken by a prairie fire 
and jumped into a creek to save himself and the flames leaped 
over him. When a prairie fire moves, the heat goes a hundred 
feet or more in front of the blaze, and this sometimes makes the 
fire jump enormous gaps when it is under full headway. The 
game on the prairie will seldom turn and face a fire, though Mr. 
Buckles once saw a buck turn and charge directly through the 
flame. He once made a ring of fire around a piece of bottom 
land, leaving a gap, where the frightened deer were shot, as they 
came out, by two hunters stationed there. 

Mr. Buckles has seen the vexations to which the old settlers 
were subjected. He was obliged to pound his corn before the 
deep snow, for one entire summer. He made a mortar out of an 
ash stump. The stump was burnt out and could hold three pecks 
of corn, which was beaten with an enormous pestle. He after- 



m'lean county. 537 

wards made a little horse mill out of nigger-heads, and with this 
ground five bushels of corn per day. He has often gone to Peoria 
to mill and far above there. 

Mr. Buckles went down to Logan County about seven years 
ago, but moved back to near Buckles' Grove during the middle 
of March, 1873, and there he now resides. He is a little more 
than six feet in height, is muscular and active, and is an accurate 
marksman. But that which is most remarkable is his quickness 
of sight. He usually sees the game before the game sees him. 
He is a good-natured man, and, like all of the old settlers, is hos- 
pitable and kind. He has done his fair proportion of hard work, 
and has split more rails than Abraham Lincoln ever did. 

He married, February 2, 1837, Elizabeth Jane Kinder. He has 
five children living. They are : 

William •Marion, who lives in Leroy, Elinois. 

Robert Franklin lives now with his father, as he is a widower. 

Amanda B., wife of George Lucas, lives in Davis County, 
Missouri. 

Mary Ann and Peter Leander live at home. 

James Harvey Conaway. 

James H. Conaway was born July 14, 1819, in Bourbon 
County, Kentcky, within three miles of Millersburg. His fath- 
er's name was Aquilla Conaway, and his mother's name was Ra- 
chel Barnett. His father and mother were American born citi- 
zens. Aquilla Conaway came to Kentucky from Maryland at a 
very early day. The Conaway family left Kentucky when James 
was only eight years of age, and he does not remember much of 
that State. The only thing, which impressed his boyish imagina- 
tion, was a little incident which happened while a negro woman 
was " toting " water from a spring. Her bucket of water was on 
her head, and as she passed under a tree, a squirrel, which was 
jumping from one branch to another, missed its hold and fell on 
the edge of the bucket and was killed. 

In the fall of 1827 Aquilla Conaway brought his family to Illi- 
nois. He came very near becoming swamped in the quicksands 
of White River. His wagon was driven by an obstinate negro, 
named Moses. When the journey was ended, Moses was sent 
back to Kentucky with the wagon and team, and instructed to 



538 OLD SETTLERS OF 

take care of everything and not to steal from the people on the 
route. Moses faithfully obeyed all instructions except those with 
regard to stealing. 

Mr. Conaway came first to Vermilion County, where he re- 
mained for a few monthe, and then came to Buckles' Grove, Mc- 
Lean County, Illinois, where he arrived February 8, 1828. 

The first notable event, which .James Conaway remembers, 
was that some of the Buckles boys caught a large black wolf in 
a trap and fastened the wolf to the middle of a pole and showed 
it alive to the new-comers. He has often seen the black wolves 
play on the snow where Leroy now stands. This was during the 
winter of the deep snow. During that winter he saw several deer 
frozen to death standing in their tracks. The deer lived during that 
winter on the bark of the sumach, and in the following spring 
the groves of sumach were completely skinned of bark. Mr. 
Conaway has often chased wolves and deer and has sometimes 
run down two or three in a day. He remembers when a party 
chased a deer until it was so exhausted that one of their number, 
John Knott, jumped on its back and cut its throat. 

James H. Conaway is about five feet and five inches high. 
His head is a little bald and his eyes are dark and bright. He 
has a pleasant, smiling countenance, and seems a very straight- 
forward man. He is a very hardy, active man, and enjoys the 
West of health. He married, December 6, 1849, Axey Deften- 
baugh, and has six children. He has never lost any of his chil- 
dren by sickness and never callled a doctor on their account. 

Esek Eddy Greenman. 

Esek Eddy Greenman was born January 23, 1616, in Wash- 
ington County, Ohio, about twenty-three miles from Marietta, the 
county seat. Three miles from his birth-place was the little town 
of Waterford with its block-house, which afforded protection to 
the people during the war of 1812. Mr. Greenman's father was 
John Greenman, of Welch descent. His mother's name was 
Ruth White, before her marrirge. She was the daughter of Deacon 
David White, who came from Vermont to the Muskingum River, 
Ohio. He was of the fourth generation from Elder White, of 
Revolutionary fame. Mr. Greenman's grandfather, Jeremiah 
Greenman, was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war, and parti- 



m'lean county. 539 

cipated in many of the contests of that seven-years' struggle. 
He was twice captured, once on board of a ship and once by the 
Indians, and his life was one of suffering and adventure. At the 
close of the war he became a member of the Order of the Cincin- 
nati, which admitted to its membership all who had been com- 
missioned officers during the Revolutionary war. But the order 
was short lived, as General Washington and many others were 
afraid it might be the beginning of a titled aristocracy. The old 
gentleman kept a journal for a long time, but would never allow 
it to be published. 

John Greenman, the father of Esek, was a farmer in summer 
and a school teacher in winter. The last winter of his school 
teaching was the one of the memorable one of the deep snow, 
when he kept school at Blooming Grove. While living in Ohio, 
John Greenman was for a while deputy sheriff, and it required a 
good deal of nerve sometimes to serve in that capacity. During 
those early days, as well as at the present time, medical gentle- 
men were very anxious to obtain subjects for dissection and were 
willing to pay quite a sum- of money for them. The love of 
money, which is occasionally the root of some evil, induced a 
person named Dow, to decoy a crazy man into the woods for the 
purpose of killing him and selling him to the medical institute ; 
but the crazy man escaped. Dow afterwards stole a corpse from 
the grave where it was buried and dragged it through the fields 
and bid it in a barn and covered it with corn-stalks. There it 
was found by Constable Greenman who arrested Dow and his ac- 
complice. 

When Esek Greenman was nine years of age his father moved 
to Waterford, where he kept a hotel ; and one year later Esek be- 
came a little water-rat and could run a ferry, across the Muskin- 
gum River. In about the year 1826 the Greenman family moved 
on a farm about three miles up the river and there Esek could 
work to his heart's content. His associates were some very 
bad little boys who loved trickery better than they loved their 
mush and milk; nevertheless he worked faithfully at grubbing 
trees and stumps. 

In July, 1829, the Greenman family started for Illinois, where 
they arrived on the twenty-ninth of August. They came with 
Major Seth Baker's family to Blooming Grove. The roads were 



540 OLD SETTLERS OF 

very muddy and at one time they passed through a place where 
the wheels sank to the axletree, and were obliged to put all their 
horses on each wagon separately in order to get through. It was 
called the Devil's Mush-pot. There were two roads leading 
through it, and they were told to take their choice, with the 
warning that whichever road they went they would wish they had 
taken the other ! 

Upon their arrival they rented a house of Squire Orendorff, 
and in October, Mr. Greenman, sr., began teaching school. Esek 
went to work for Thomas Orendorff; he husked corn and took 
the " down row," and worked hard until winter set in. In 1830 
he cut logs for the double log cabin built by James Allin, it being 
the first house in Bloomington. It is the one now occupied by 
Dr. Stipp. In the spring of 1830, Mr. James Allin offered Mr. 
John Greenman some money to enter the W. half of the S. W. 
quarter of section four, township twenty-three, range two east, 
on condition that Greenman would deed to Allin a part of the 
east side of said land, amounting to about twenty acres, for the 
purpose of being used to lay out a town. The offer was accepted. 
Mr. Greenman entered the land, deeded a part of it to Allin, who 
gave it to the town of Bloomington. 

When his school was ended, J ohn Greenman cut logs, built 
a cabin between Washington and Front streets, broke five acres 
of land, sowed it in wheat and fenced it ; but before being fenced 
it was rooted up by pigs and sowed over again. The following 
winter was the one of the deep snow ; but the wheat was un- 
injured, and was pronounced the finest west of Maryland. 

M r. Esek Greenman had very little to do with the Indians. 
He remembers that a great crowd of them once came to a spring 
near the north shaft, to see his sisters wash clothes, for this ope- 
ration was a novelty to the savages. 

During the winter of the deep snow, John Greenman was 
teaching school on the old Jim Cannaday place. Esek remem- 
bers that the great storm of snow, which really commenced the 
period of the deep snow, fell on Friday. That day his father let 
out school early, as he had a little " chore" to attend to, which 
Mas to transport to his house a hog which he had obtained in the 
neighborhood. He carried it on horseback and young Esek fol- 
lowed on foot, But the snow fell so deep that Esek stayed over 



m'lean county. 541 

night at old Johnny Maxwell's house, while Mr. Greenman, sr., 
proceeded. He reached home with the porker, but was two 
hours in traveling the last quarter of a mile. 

The day before the deep snow, Moses Baker and William 
Oney went to Orendorff's mill on Sugar Creek, about twenty-five 
miles from Bloomington, and on their return, at Murphy's Grove, 
"William Oney wanted to lay down and sleep ; but Baker whip- 
ped him and abused him, and at last he was ready to fight; but 
Baker insisted that he should arouse himself or he would cer- 
tainly freeze. Then they scuffled and wrestled, and ran about 
and climbed trees to keep from freezing, until morning broke, 
when they heard roosters crowing, and found themselves within 
three hundred yards of a house ! 

People caught deer and wolves very easily until a slippery 
crust formed on the snow, after which they could catch the deer, 
but not the wolves. The crust was slippery and the wintry winds 
whistled over it and had the whole matter to themselves. Occa- 
sionally a man would lose his hat and see it scud away out of 
sight. 

In 1830 the doctors were not so numerous as at present. 
Young Esek remembers some horseback exercise when he rode 
to Pekin, a distance of thirty- three miles, without saddle or stir- 
rups, for the doctor. On his return with the doctor he forded the 
Mackinaw on the upper side, so that, if swept from his horse by 
the current, the doctor could catch him. 

In the spring of 1830 there were three houses between the 
spot where Bloomington now stands and Mackinawtown, and 
fourteen houses at the latter place, including barns. Between 
the latter place and Pleasant Hill w T ere no houses at all, and Pekin 
only contained fourteen or fifteen houses, including barns. 

In July, 1831, Mr. Greenman, sr., sold his land in Blooming- 
ton and moved three miles below Waynesville. But he found it 
a sickly spot. Out of three families, numbering in all twenty- 
four persons, twenty-two had the ague. After a long sickness, 
John Greenman died there, and was buried at Pilot Grove, and 
his family returned to Blooming Grove and entered the last re- 
maining eighty acres there. It was the eighty adjoining the 
Nathan Low, sr., place at the old camp-ground. They lived in 
the Isaac Murphy house during the winter. In the summer fol- 



542 OLD SETTLERS OF 

lowing, Esek Greenman had his last shake with the ague. This 
memorable event occurred on his sixteenth birthday. For three 
days previous, he had taken each morning a teacupful of whisky 
and ginger, and the ague departed forever. 

In the summer of 1832, Esek Greenman worked in a brick- 
yard tor Peter Whipp. During the hot summer days he arose 
early every morning and went to work. Then he had a rest 
while eating breakfast and while Mr. Whipp gave them a season 
of prayer. But Mr. Whipp finally concluded to dispense with 
the prayer as it delayed the men too long from their work. 
During 1832 and '33, the Greenman family lived north of Old 
Town, but in the latter year they went to Bloomington, and there 
Mrs. Greenman was married to Dr. Isaac Baker. 

In 1833 the sporting fraternity began to make their appear- 
ance. It was then that the first race-track in McLean County 
-was prepared. The first purse ran for amounted to, Mr. Green- 
man thinks, one hundred and fifty dollars. Four horses were 
entered for it : the Bald Hornet, owned by Henry Jacoby, was 
ridden by Esek Greenman; the Gun Fannon, owned by Jake 
Herald (Mr. Greenman thinks) ; the Tiger Whip, owned by Pete 
Hefner and ridden by James Paul, and Ethiopian, owned by a 
man near Waynesville. Mr. Greenman put Bald Hornet in 
training sometime before the race. He kept the horse in a stable 
on the Leroy road ; but one morning he found that his horse had 
been turned loose to green corn in afield near by. It *was sup- 
posed that Bald Hornet's racing days were over, but care restored 
him. After this, Esek slept with the owner of the horses in the 
haymow, and watched the animal every night. "When the race 
came on, the owner of Gun Fannon hinted to Esek that he could 
make something by holding up his horse; but Esek neglected to 
take the hint. When the race came off the Bald Hornet was 
coming in finely, but the Tiger Whip came up behind and trod 
on its heels, and the Bald Hornet was beaten. (See Peter Hef- 
ner's sketch !) He was badly crippled, and beaten on a second 
race. Some time before the race a Mr. Yesey was struck by 
lightning while putting a horse in training for the course. This 
was not considered a visitation of God, for the horse was ridden 
on the course by T. J. Barnett. Bad luck seemed to attend it. 
for it fell in the midst of the track. But the horse started up, 



M'LEAN COUNTY. . 548 

followed tin.' other horses, and saved its distance; nevertheless, il 
was beaten a second time worse than ever. " It never rains, but 
itpours." This ended Mr. Greenman's career on the turf. He 
had ridden horses, but never staked his money on the result of a 
race. 

When Mrs. Greenman was married to Dr. Baker a load of 
responsibility was taken from the shoulders of Esek and he was 
no longer obliged to look after the welfare of the family. Nev- 
ertheless he worked at whatever his hands could tind to do. He 
helped Father Baker to lay out the school section into five and 
ten acre lots ; he worked in a brick-yard at Chatham's Spring ; 
he broke prairie for Wilson Lindley south of Blooming Grove, 
started at daylight and hunted his oxen, had a little shed of prai- 
rie grass in the field to protect him from the storm, and worked 
fourteen hours a day. He drove up calves for General Gridley 
from where Leroy now stands ; indeed he did anything and every- 
thing in the line of honorable employment. In 1834 he began to 
learn the carpenter's trade of Wilson Allen and G. D. McEl- 
hiney. He had a very good opinion of McElhiney, and of 
him learned to be a Democrat. The workshop where he labored 
belonged to the widow Vesey, but in some way it came into the 
possession of Allen who incautiously allowed himself to be drawn 
into some litigation with Mrs. Yesey. He learned to his cost to 
lk bevare of the vidders," for Mrs. Vesey took forcible possession 
of the shop while the hands were at dinner, and Allen brought 
suit to recover it. The widow's case was pleaded by 'Squire C. 
C. Cory (an uncle of Mr. Greenman). The jury of Western 
men always sympathised with a woman in distress and were nat- 
urally inclined in her favor ; in addition to this they were great 
lovers of humor, and 'Squire Cory succeeded in winning the case 
by telling the pig and puppy story. It was as follows : A child 
wished to present his aunt, on Christmas day, with a little pig, 
and started to her with one in a basket. But, having incautious- 
ly set down his basket, the pig was stolen from him and a puppy 
inserted in its place. When he came to his aunt he opened the 
basket and found the puppy, and returned home disappointed. 
But in the meantime the puppy was stolen and the pig returned 
to its place. So when the innocent child opened the basket again 
and saw the pig, he exclaimed : " It can be a pig when it's a 



544 OLD SETTLERS OF 

mind to and puppy when i^' 8 a mm( l to." "Now, gentlemen of 
the jury," said 'Squire Cory, " that is the way with the plaintiff 
in this case, who would steal the property of a widow. He can 
be a pig when he has a mind to and a puppy when he has a mind 
to." Mr. Allen was unable to bear up against the combined in- 
fluence of 'Squire Cory, the widow, the pig and the puppy, and 
lost the case. 

From 1833 to 1835 the fine gentlemen of Bloomington seemed 
to think it necessary to take their occasional sprees, and Mr. 
Greenman remembers one famous spree which perhaps some old 
settlers of Bloomington can now call to mind, for some of them 
were in it. Perhaps they can remember when one of the party 
became weary and went home and crawled into a garret and went 
to sleep on a board plank, and how the crowd followed him and 
brought him back; how they weighed out liquor in scales and 
drank it ; how they weighed out oysters and ate them ; how they 
stood across the room and threw oysters at each others' mouths, 
and how, in order to vary the amusement, they marched around 
the stove and at last pitched it out of the window, and did many 
other things which must be nameless. 

In the fall of 1835 Mr. Greenman started for Northern Illinois 
with a man named Jim Paul. The latter was "on his muscle," 
and occasionally indulged in a match fight. They went to Dixon's 
Ferry, and while there made an excursion to the battle ground of 
Stillman's Pun. They worked hard and built cabins for persons 
making claims. After spending a few weeks there, Mr. Green- 
man and a man named James Durley started for Platteville, Wis- 
consin, and on their way, not far from Dixon, he saw the grave 
of Joe Draper, who had been killed in the Black Hawk war. 
After some delays he went to Platteville and clerked for John 
Lytle who kept a grocery store. After a while he went to Galena 
and there, it is to be regretted, fell into evil ways. He learned 
to play cards and led rather a hard life. In the spring he started 
to dig for mineral and found very good signs, but stopped digging 
to play euchre and attend to other duties equally important, and 
lost his claim. Shortly after this he met an impecunious "dead 
broke" miner and bought his claim for one dollar, but the con- 
ditions were that if he struck mineral he should pay the miner 
five dollars. But Mr. Greenman played euchre and neglected 



m'lean county. 545 

the claim and lost it altogether. It afterwards turned out to be 
worth twelve thousand dollars. His first claim, where he had 
found signs of mineral, was pushed by other parties and one-half 
of it was sold for thirty thousand dollars. He had better have 
burnt his cards. But after a while he determined to reform, so 
he took a good game of euchre, drank some ale, went to a revival 
and walked forward to the anxious seat and reformed. 

In the spring of 1837 he went to Savannah, with Deacon 
George Davidson. He carried the mail from Galena to Cleve- 
land on Rock River, fifteen or twenty miles from Rock Island. 
He carried it regularly twice a week for a month or two. 

He returned to Bloomington and worked as a carpenter du- 
ring the following winter. He went to McHenry County and 
there worked for a Mr. Foster, for a dollar a day and his board, 
and was dunned by Mrs. Foster for his Sunday board. The next 
summer he went to Cedar County, Iowa, on foot, and had various 
adventures, made a claim at Onion Grove where a town was after- 
wards laid out, and after various travels and adventures he found 
himself in Leroy, McLean County, Illinois, with one hundred 
and fifty dollars in his pocket. He borrowed a hundred and fifty 
dollars more and went to Chicago for goods and there was offered 
two lots in the heart of the city for a horse and buggy. He 
spent fourteen years in the dry goods business, and has been a 
very successful merchant. He was for four years in the grocery 
business, and in everything has prospered well. 

He married, February 14, 1848, Miss Martha Pierce. Mrs. 
Greenman died July 14, 1864, and since then he has remained 
unmarried. He has had eight children, of whom three are living, 
two boys and one girl. In 1844 or 1845 he was postmaster at 
Leroy, and this is all the public office he ever held. In politics 
he was a Democrat until 1856 when he became a Republican and 
has remained so ever since. 

Mr. Greenman's character is pretty well shown by his life. 
He is very plucky and adventurous, but very kind and polite. 
After he really settled down to business he succeeded well and 
acquired property. He is obliged to look at a thing several times 
to understand it, but is pretty sure to see through it in the end. 
He is a self-made man, and his success in later life was due to 
himself, for certainly his early experience and training would not 
35 



546 OLD SETTLERS OF 

be recommended as conducive to moral elevation. His judgment 
is the very best, and lie is possessed of a great deal of natural 
shrewdness. He loves fun and a good store, and enjoys a practi- 
cal joke. He is of medium size and is finely proportioned. His 
hair is very white, and his cheeks have a healthy, pleasant glow. 
In his youth he must have been quite a favorite with ladies. He 
takes a great interest in matters pertaining to the earl} 7 settlement 
of the country, for he has seen the adventurous side of it, which 
is pretty sure to be the humorous side, and is very pleasant to 
remember though not always pleasant to endure. 

Mr. Greenman has three children living. They are : 
Mary Belle, wife of Gideon Scott Crumbaugh, born October 
18, 1853, lives at Leroy. 

.John Emmet, born September 6, 1855, and Charles Emery 
Greenman, born March 1, 1861, live at home. 

Otho Merrifield. 

Otho Merrifield was born November 4, 1814, near Xenia. 
Green County, Ohio. His father's name was James Merrifield. 
and his mother's maiden name was Hannah Haines. In the fall 
of 1829 he came to Illinois with his father's family of nine chil- 
dren. They traveled with a four-horse team, and had no particu- 
lar trouble except with the green-head flies, which bit the horses 
and made them nearly crazy. They first stopped at Cheney's 
Grove, but stayed during the first winter over on Kickapoo, about 
ten miles west of Leroy. In the spring, Mr. Merrifield, sr., took 
a claim on the east side of Buckles' Grove, and moved there 
April 2, 1830. It was the business of Otho Merrifield and his 
brother to take care of the stock, and when they had a little extra 
time they went on a deer or wolf chase. They hunted wolves 
with hounds, and kept for this purpose three bloodhounds and 
two or three greyhounds. The latter will run faster and fight 
better than bloodhounds, but cannot run so long. Mr. Merrifield 
is proud to say that his dogs were always game and never were 
whipped. Mr. Merrifield thinks the wolf is sometimes the most 
impudent and daring of wild animals. It will drive the chickens 
into the yard, and it will steal pigs in the daytime so close to the 
house, that they can be heard to squeal. During the deep snow, 
the Merrifield family pounded their corn, as all the settlers of that 



m'lean county. 547 

period did. During that winter Otlio and his brother ran down 
eleven deer, which \\;is pretty fair work for boys. 

Mr. Merrifield saw plenty of Indians when he came to the 
country, but never lost anything by them thai he knows of, nor 
had any difficulty with them. The Indians usually weni on their 
limits in companies. They started from Indian Grove and went 
to Old Town timber, then down Salt Creek as far as the Lake 
Fork near Mt. Pulaski, and then returned to Indian Grove. Their 
hunting companies varied in size from one hundred to three hun- 
dred. They walked in single file, and Mr. Merrifield has seen 
a string of Indians five miles in length. 

Mr. Merrifield lived in Empire township from 1829 to 1856, 
and then went to Missouri, where he stayed four years, and then 
came back to his old home. He liked the country in Missouri 
very much. On the 7th of April, i860, lie had his leg broken. 
He then went back to his farm, where he lived until the fall of 
1864. Up to this time he succeeded pretty fairly with the world, 
and made enough money to enable him to live comfortably. He 
was a man of the strictest integrity, but perhaps a little too un- 
suspecting. In 1866 he sold his farm and went into the drue' 
business, but was so unfortunate as to lose the results of years of 
toil. He is now left with little property, and in the decline of 
life must still earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. 

Mr. Merrifield is six feet in height, and, though he. has passed 
through many hardships, is still a man of good personal appear- 
ance. His eyes are dark and expressive, and Ids countenance 
shows his good faith and his honesty. 

He married Mrs. Prudence Conaway, December 8, 1842. He 
has had a family of nine children, all of whom are living. 

Henry Chumbaugh. 

Henry Crumbaugh was born April 26, 1789, in Frederick 
County, Maryland. There he received his schooling very much 
as other boys did, nothing of special importance occurring. He 
was very skillful in boxing and wrestling, and while between the 
ages of twenty-one and thirty-one, he never found his match. In 
the year 1810 lie moved to Kentucky, where he remained eight 
or nine years. In April, 1820, he married Sarah Baldock and has 
had twelve children, of whom five are living. He moved to Elk- 



548 OLD SETTLERS OF 

hart Grove, in Sangamon County, Illinois, in 1828, and to Buckles'* 
drove, McLean County, in March, 1830, and settled on the land 
where he has lived ever since. He had a hard time to find some- 
thing to eat, and was forced to go a long distance to a horse-mill 
to have his corn ground. It required a week to go to Springfield, 
get his corn ground, do his trading and return. He was ohliged 
to work under many disadvantages, and exercise great ingenuity 
to supply the want of articles common to civilization. When he 
broke prairie he attached the oxen to the plough by hickory 
bark. 

During the winter of the deep snow he beat his meal in 
kettles and obtained his water by melting snow. This winter as 
is well known was very severe for the deer. He has seen deer 
caught by wolves, for the sharp feet of the former broke through 
the crust, while the latter could run over the snow with ease. At 
one time he saw from his house three wolves catch a deer. He 
jumped on a horse and took the deer from them and gave it to 
his pigs to eat, as it was too poor for use at home. 

Mr. Crumbaugh had his experience in the sudden change in 
the weather which occurred in December, 1836. The day was 
mild, and the ground was covered with water and snow, when 
suddenly the cold west wind came with a roar, and froze up every- 
thing immediately. On that day John Dawson was going to Leroy 
to mill, but when the wind struck him he turned to go to Henry 
Crumbaugh's farm. He was unable to cross Salt Creek, and after 
getting into it cut his oxen loose and tried to drive them over, 
but they refused to go. He himself became wet to the waist, and, 
letting the oxen go, crossed the creek and started for Mr. Crum- 
baugh's house, a few rods distant; but when he reached the 
fence, his clothes were frozen so stiff that he could not climb over 
without Mr. Crumbaugh's assistance. Mr. Crumbaugh drove the 
oxen across the creek and up to his stable. They were covered 
with a double coating of ice an inch thick. 

Mr. Crumbaugh thought it fun to go to Chicago. He hauled 
from there the first lumber brought to this section of country, 
bringing it one hundred and forty miles with an ox team. 

Mr. Crumbaugh has had much difficulty with prairie fires. 
At one time he came from Springfield with Maria Dawson, then 
a girl of fifteen, when he saw ahead of him a prairie fire ; he 



m'lean county. 549 

escaped by driving his horses into a pond until the fire passed on. 
Mr. Crumbaugh was accustomed to hunt wolves and kept hounds 
particularly for this sport. He was, for a long time, the only per- 
son in the country who had hounds trained for this purpose. At 
one time a wolf came up to the house and caught a chicken, and 
when pursued by the dogs did not give it up until caught. One 
wolf held to a pig, which it had captured, and ran with it for a 
mile before dropping it, though hotly pursued by the dogs. It 
gave them a race of eight miles before they caught it. Mr. 
Crumbaugh often set wolf-traps and caught many wolves. He 
was accustomed to set the trap and tie a chicken or a leg of mut- 
ton near it to decoy the wolves ; but when they were caught they 
seldom ate the bait. He caught five wolves with a rooster for 
bait, and four with a leg of mutton ; but one old wolf ate the 
bait after being caught, and showed fight when taken from the 
trap. 

Mr. Crumbaugh has also hunted other game occasionally. He 
caught eleven turkeys with his hounds in about twenty minutes, 
on a wet winter's day. He once caught two lynxs in the edge of 
Old Town timber. These animals are of the wildcat species and 
very large. Hunters have sometimes mistaken them for dogs. 
They have spots and stripes on them, and are quite pretty. They 
are not considered dangerous to human beings, but are strong, 
and would be very unpleasant animals to fight with. 

Henry Crumbaugh is about six feet in height. In his younger 
•days he was very strong. He sometimes liked to attend a horse- 
race, but never was carried away by such sport. Although very 
old he is still possessed of a great deal of shrewdness and good 
sense. He was, in his younger days, a man of steady nerve, a 
good hunter and an accurate shot. He appears to be a pleasant, 
oheerful gentleman, wears spectacles, is quick-witted, and observes 
what is going on around him. 

Henry Crumbaugh has been a hard worker and a shrewd 
manager. During the winter of 1819 he started from Frankfort. 
Kentucky, to Xew Orleans, with four flatboats, with freight be- 
longing to Col. Johnson. He made the trip down the river in 
ten days, but was made very sick by drinking the river water. 
He received for his pay two hundred dollars for each boat. He 
returned on horseback through the Indian territory, and passed 



550 OLD SETTLERS OF 

over the land belonging to the Chocktaws and Chickasaws. They 
treated him with the greatest kindness. 

Mr. Crumbaugh has been very kind to his children, and has 
given them each six thousand dollars to start in life. His chil- 
dren are : 

Emily, born November 15, 1821, died in September, 1826. 

ISTarcissie, born January 7, 1824, is married to Simpson E. 
Thompson, and lives three miles south of her parents. 

James H. L. Crumbaugh, born May 1, 1826, lives six miles 
south of his parents. 

Emily Crumbaugh, born August 2, 1828, died in 1^38. 

Nancy H., born August 12, 1830, died in 1833. 

Louisiana C, was born March 10, 1834, and died May 12, 
1866. 

John Edgar Howard Crumbaugh, born August 3, 1837, lives 
a half a mile south of his parents. 

Andrew Jackson Crumbaugh, born September 5, 1840, lives 
a quarter of a mile south of his father. 

Allen Montgomery Crumbaugh, born December 12, 1842, 
died in 1844. 

Lewis Cass Crumbaugh, born March 19, 1845, lives at the 
homestead. 

Daniel Crumbauoh. 

Daniel Crumbaugh was born December 7, 1791, in Frederick 
County, Maryland. His father and mother were Germans, his father 
having come to America from Germany when very young. Daniel 
received a little schooling there, but not enough to hurt him. He 
used to assist the scholars in barring out the schoolmaster on 
Christmas days. At one time they compelled the teacher to give 
them two weeks' vacation, but he compelled the parents to pay 
him for these two Aveeks as if school had been in session, and 
some of the scholars came pretty near " catching it" from their 
angry fathers in consequence. In 1812 Mr. Crumbaugh came 
west to Cincinnati, and from there went to Scott County, Ken- 
tucky. In 1813 he enlisted in the army under the command of 
Colonel Richard M. Johnson to fight against the British and In- 
dians. He went first to Fort Meigs on the Miami Rapids above 
where Toledo now stands, where General Harrison had a garri- 



m'lean county. 551 

son. From there they went to Lower Sandusky on Lake Erie, 
then back home to recruit their horses. 

They were then sent to Kaskaskia, Illinois. This town was 
threatened by Indians, and it seemed that the place which was af- 
terwards to be the first capital of the Sucker State was to be blot- 
ted out entirely. But the Indians were headed off, and the regi- 
ment to which Mr. Crumbaugh belonged was sent back to Fort 
Meigs. "While there they heard the roar of the guns during the 
battle "when Commodore Perry gained his celebrated victory over 
the British on Lake Erie. Shortly after this they went to De- 
troit, crossed over to Windsor (then called Sandwich) and followed 
the British and Indians under the Command of General Proctor 
and the chief Tecumseh. At the River Thames the enemy made 
a stand and here was fought the battle which practically closed 
the contest in the north. The enemy was completely defeated, 
with the loss of baggage and eight hundred prisoners and a large 
number of killed and wounded. Tecumseh was among the slain. 
It has been a matter of speculation as to who killed him. Mr. 
Crumbaugh can shed no light upon it. Col. R. M. Johnson, the 
commander of their regiment, was wounded five times. The 
muskets used by the Americans in this battle were the old flint- 
locks, and the cartridges contained a ball and two buck-shot. 
The regiment opposed to the one in which Mr. Crumbaugh served 
was the Forty-fourth Irish regiment, commanded by Colonel 
Baubee. When the battle was over, the company to which Mr. 
Crumbaugh belonged was sent as a guard for General Harrison 
and the captured British officers, down to Lake St. Clair where 
they took shipping and came to Detroit. There they remained 
until Harrison made a treaty with some tribes of Indians, 
and then returned home to Georgetown, Kentucky. There Mr. 
Crumbaugh lived a rough-and-tumble life for some years. In 
1828 he moved to Elkhart Grove in Sangamon County, and on 
the sixth of March, 1830, he came to Buckles' Grove, McLean 
County, Illinois, where he has lived ever since. He was obliged 
to accustom himself to the western climate by a course of fever 
and ague, but it came at an unfortunate time. During the win- 
ter of 1830 and 31, which was the winter of the deep snow, he 
had fever and ague every third day and could not take care of his 
stock. He had eighty pigs at home and one hundred and fifty 



552 OLD SETTLEKS OF 

bushels of corn at the Elkhart, but could not drive his pigs there 
nor bring his corn home, and many of his pigs died. But he 
succeeded in keeping his other stock on corn-fodder. 

Of course every settler has an individual experience to relate 
of the cold snap in the winter of 1836. When the ground was 
covered with a slush of water and snow, and the air was warm, the 
freezing wind came from the west and everything was made solid 
immediately. Mr. Crumbaugh says that Salt Creek was frozen 
across in one place where the willows were thick. The cold was 
so intense that the creek was frozen to the bottom, stopping the 
flow of water underneath. It then dammed up and began to 
flow over, but froze as it ran, and the dam of ice grew higher 
and higher, until it was five feet above the level of the creek. 

Air. Crumbaugh has had great difficulty with fire, as every old 
settler has. Tlfe grass grew taller than a man's head, and in the 
fall when it was dry the fires were terrible. Mr. Crumbaugh had 
a litte grove of cherry trees burned up by the fire. 

Daniel Crumbaugh is six feet and four inches in height. He 
has worked hard during his life-time and has fairly earned the 
home, which he has provided for his family. He is straightfor- 
ward and honest in his dealings in every particular, and expects 
other men to be straightforward and honest with him. He has 
paid close attention to his business and acquired a fair compe- 
tence. He has been twice married and has had fourteen children, 
ten of whom are now living. He is now too old to work, but 
lives a contented and happy life. He has a kind heart and good 
judgment. 

Daniel Crumbaugh married, in 1816, Miss Susan Winters, 
daughter of Jacob "Winters, of Scott County, Kentucky. By this 
marriage he had four children, two of whom are living. His 
children are : 

William Henry Crumbaugh, born May 30, 1817, lives in John- 
son County, Missouri. 

John Jacob Crumbaugh, born January 19, 1819, died in the 
Mexican war in 1847. He was in John Moore's regiment. 

Ann Margaret Crumbaugh, born December 2, 1820, is mar- 
ried to Thomas Wiley and lives in Moultrie County, Illinois, 

Susan Jane Crumbaugh, born July 19, 1823, died July 1, 
1824. 



m'lean county. 553 

Mrs. Crumbaugh died during the fall of 1828. 

In January, 1825, Mr. Crumbaugh married Miss Martha M. 
Robinson, of North Carolina. IShe died June 4, 1857. The chil- 
dren of this marriage are : 

Sarah E., born April 6, 1826, was married to "William Craig, 
and died April 6, 1857. 

Mary Catharine, born October 3, 1827, is married to Charles 
Cope and lives two miles south of her father's. 

Leonard Alexander Crumbaugh, born November 13, 1829, 
lives two miles east of his father's. 

James T. Crumbaugh, born January 24, 1832, lives three miles 
miles east of his father's. 

Daniel T. Crumbaugh, born January 24, 1832, (twin brother 
of James), lives two miles east of his father's. 

Emily Maria Crumbaugh, born May 1, 1834, lives in Johnson 
County, Missouri. 

Francis Marion Crumbaugh, born January 6, 1837, married 
Rebecca Riddle, daughter of Elijah and Mary Riddle. He lives 
at the homestead. 

Caroline T. Crumbaugh, born July 14, 1839, was married to 
Anthony Rogers, of Johnson County, Missouri. She died Feb- 
ruary 11, 1873. 

Martha Cary Crumbaugh, wife of George ~W. Bartlett, of 
Johnson County, Missouri, was born November 3, 1841. 

Nancy Turner Crumbaugh, wife of Anderson McConnell, 
lives one-half of a mile south of her father's. 

Sinah Guilford Crumbaugh was born June 4, 1848, was mar- 
ried to William Bartlett, and died March 11, 1869. 

James Henry Lyon Crumbaugh. 

James H. L. Crumbaugh was born May 1, 1826, in Hender- 
son County, Kentucky. His father was Henry Crumbaugh, 
whose sketch is given above, and his mother was Sarah Bal- 
dock. His father was of German descent, and his mother was of 
French and Irish stock. When James Crumbaugh was two years 
old his father moved to Springfield, Illinois, and afterwards to 
Elkhart Grove. There the family remained two years and then 
came to Buckles' Grove, where they have lived ever since. James 
Crumbaugh received his early education at the Claywater school, 



554 OLD SETTLERS OF 

which was kept about one mile south of the present town of 
Leroy. He went four miles to school to receive instruction from 
William Johnson, who, when barred out, treated his scholars to 
whisky and made them intoxicated. Mr. Crumbaugh afterwards 
went to the first school in Leroy, and his wife attended the same. 
His teacher was 'Squire Lincoln, now living in Leroy. Mr. 
Crumbauffh tells an incident which occurred during the school 
days of Thomas Buckles, when they were both boys together. 
Buckles and some of his companions caught a blue-racer, tied a 
strip of bark around its neck, and proposed to lead it. At first 
the snake held back ; but soon it took a start and went after 
young Buckles. The latter ran at the top of his speed to get rid 
of the snake, and was clear out of breath before it occurred to 
him to let loose of the bark. 

In 1840 Mr. Crumbaugh had an opportunity to go to Chicago, 
which was then a town of thirty-five hundred people. Old Fort 
Dearborn, the block house and the palisades were still standing. 

Mr. Crumbaugh went on his first wolf hunt when he was only 
nine years of age. His father caught wolves in a pen with a lid 
to it. "When the wolf came to eat the bait placed there for him, 
it touched the trigger, which let down the log and held him in 
the pen. Mr. Crumbaugh has often chased wolves and caught 
them. When they are chased in the winter time, they take to 
the ice on the creeks and sloughs. Mr. Crumbaugh lias seen a 
wolf follow a slough in all its angles and turns and get quite 
away from the dogs, for it had longer claws and was lighter 
built. 

Mr. Crumbaugh married Amanda Melcena Buck, September 
28, 1851. She is a daughter of 'Squire Hiram Buck, whose 
sketch appears in this volume. She was a school-mate of her 
husband in the days when they were young. After their mar- 
riage the} 7 lived with Henry Crumbaugh until 18-37, when they 
moved to the farm where they now reside, about three miles 
southwest of Leroy in Empire township. 

Mr. Crumbaugh is five feet and ten inches high. He is a man 
of great energy and gets up bright and early in the morning to 
attend to his business. He has been remarkably successful in 
life. He has had three children, all of whom are living. They 
are : 



M LEAN COUNTY. 555 

Laura Elizabeth, born August 26, 1852, is married to William 
Scott Lafferty, and lives in Downs township. 

Edith May, born May 8, 1856, and Hiram Henry, born June 
29, 1861, live at home. 

Silas Waters. 

Silas Waters was horn November 19, 1808, in Stafford Coun- 
ty, Virginia. His father, whose name was also Silas Waters, was 
of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in Virginia. The maiden 
name of the mother of Silas Waters, jr., was Margaret Duffy. 
She was born in Maryland and was probably of Irish descent. 
En 1814 the family moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky. They 
went to Winchester, then came down the river in a fiat-boat to a 
place called Maceville, and from there went by team to Bourbon 
County, Kentucky. Here young Silas passed his days pleasantly. 
He had great sport in catching shad, herring and other fish, with 
which the waters of Kentucky abound. 

On the 12th of February, 1824, Silas Waters married Chris- 
tiana Conaway. He worked hard to support his family and lived 
for three years as a renter under slave-holding landlords ; but at 
last determined to come west. He went first to Rush County, 
Indiana, where he remained a year. In June, 1828, he came on 
horseback to Illinois and settled near Judgetown in Vermilion 
County. But, being still unsatisfied, he sold out in 1830, and on 
November 7th of that year came to Empire township, in what is 
now McLean County, Illinois. At that time the house of Wil- 
liam Bishop was the only one between Mr. Waters' and Bloom- 
ing Grove ; and on the road to Danville were only four houses. 
Deer, wolves and Indians were plenty. But the deep snow sent 
all of them away, except the wolves. The deer were frozen to 
death, and the Indians left because of the scarcity of game ; but 
the wolves remained. They lived through the winter on the 
frozen deer; but when the deer were no more, the wolves ac- 
quired a taste for mutton and seemed to relish it well. 

On the day before the heavy fall of snow in December, 1830, 
Mr. "Waters went to the old Murphy mill on theKickapoo, about 
fifteen miles from home, stayed there all night and started home 
the following morning by daybreak. When he passed the house 
of Jesse Funk, about sunrise, the snow began to fall. When he 



556 OLD SETTLERS OF 

had gone about a mile and a half farther, he thought he would 
turn back, but was astonished to find that the heavy snow covered 
up the track behind him. He had no road or compass and was 
obliged to direct his course by the wind. He faced the storm and 
struck Buckles' Grove only a quarter of a mile from where he 
wished, and arrived home in safety. The snow fell thirty-three 
inches, while his oxen went ten miles as fast as they could be 
driven. The tall weeds were covered up, and as the eye was di- 
rected over the prairie, absolutely nothing could be seen, except 
the white snow. 

Mr. "Waters had no particular experience during the Black 
Hawk war. He went to Bloomington to see if he was drafted, 
but found that volunteers sufficient had gone. 

Mr. Waters has lived in Empire township ever since his set- 
tlement there, with the exception of two years (1852-3) which 
he spent in Farmer City as a merchant. 

Mr. "Waters first married Christiana Conaway, and by this 
marriage had six children, of whom four are living. They are : 

Chalton Differ Waters, born June 2, 1826, lives on the home- 
stead farm, one mile west of Leroy. 

John Thomas Waters, born August 22, 1827, lives one and a 
quarter miles northwest of Leroy. 

America Waters, born November 9, 1828, married Andrew 
Cummings of Farmer City. 

Nancy Waters, born January 30, 1831, married first Jeremiah 
Greenman, and sometime after his death was married to Hamp- 
ton Roach. She lives in Normal, and is a second time a widow. 

Sometime after the death of Mrs. Waters, Mr. Waters mar- 
ried Mrs. Mary Jane Karr, an English lady. 

Mr. Waters is five feet and ten inches in height, and rather 
stout in appearance. He seems Avell-formed, and walks erect. 
His hair is gray and thick on his head. His eyes are blue, and 
his complexion healthy and rather sanguine. He is very much 
respected by his neighbors. He thinks much of the old settlers, 
and would now prefer to live in a new country, or, at all events, 
would like the manners and good feeling of a new country. Mr. 
Waters has inherited a healthy constitution, as may be inferred 
from the fact that all of his eight brothers and sisters, who crossed 
the Allegheny Mountains in 1814, are living. He was Associate 



m"lean county. 557 

Judge of McLean County, while Judge McChui was in office. 
Mr. Waters has been a member of the Methodist Church since 
1825, and has held nearly every position in the church which is 
given to a layman. 

James Bishop. 

James Bishop was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, April 
3, 1806. The Bishops, from whom he was descended, came to 
the American colonies from England with William Penn. They 
were members of the Society of Friends. 

In the fall of 1809 the Bishop family moved to that part of 
the territory of Ohio, which is now called Clark County. During 
the war of 1812, a part of General Shelby's army camped near 
where the Bishops lived. All of the boys and young men above 
the age of fifteen were taken into the army. Only a few children 
and women and Revolutionary soldiers were left to protect the 
neighborhood. When the war broke out, many persons were 
suspicious and fearful of the Indians and mistrusted them. A 
council of the Indians was called, to which the whites were in- 
vited, but many" were afraid to attend. Tecumseh, the great 
chief, contemptuously called those who were afraid, " big babies," 
and the name clung to them for many years. Tecumseh was a 
remarkably fine-looking man, a splendid chief, and was possessed 
of a great deal of natural dignity. He had a lively sense of honor 
and the whites had great confidence in his word. Some of the 
Indians favored the whites and were spies for them. Among 
these were Logan, Captain John, and another whose name Mr. 
Bishop does not recall. But some of the whites were afraid that 
these Indians were not really acting in good faith, so the latter 
determined to show their good faith by bringing in some scalps 
of their enemies. They went out on an expedition for this pur- 
pose, but unluckily were themselves surprised and captured. But 
when captured, they pretended friendship to the opposite party, 
and were allowed the use of their weapons. When the three 
captive Indians found a favorable opportunity, they each shot 
down one of their captors, and grasped their knives and rushed 
upon three others. They succeeded in killing their captors, but 
Logan was so badly injured that after his return he died of his 
wounds. Just before his death he burst out laughing, and, when 



558 OLD SETTLERS OF 

asked the reason, said he remembered the fight and laughed to 
see Captain John ride that big Indian. 

• lames Bishop went to school in Ohio. There he assisted in 
barring out the schoolmaster on Christmas days, as this was the 
common practice. At one time they barred out the schoolmaster 
and, after a long and severe contest, baptized him in a spring. 
The schoolmaster afterwards brought suit and recovered ten dol- 
lars apiece from four of the hoys, who took a prominent part in 
this transaction. At one time they had a schoolmaster named 
Peleg Whitridge, who rather got the start of them. He climbed 
< in the roof, covered the chimney and smoked out the scholars. 
After that they provided themselves with poles to push off the 
obstruction, when the schoolmaster covered the chimney. 

James Bishop came West in May, 1831, the spring after the 
deep snow. He came first to Lafayette, Indiana, then went to 
Fort Clark (now Peoria) and to Pekin, then down to the Missis- 
sippi bottom, where he bought cattle, and finally returned to 
Ohio. He came back every year until 1837, when he was mar- 
ried, and that, of course, settled him. 

Mr. Bishop has often had wolf hunts. At t>ne time he ran 
down a wolf and tried to capture it alive as it held down its head 
so piteously ; but when he tried to take hold of it the treacherous 
animal sprang at him and attempted to bite. Mr. Bishop killed 
it with his stirrup, and never again felt merciful towards a wolf. 
The fountains of his sympathy ran completely dry. He had 
great difficulty in protecting his little pigs from the wolves. The 
latter would come up and steal the pigs, even though the pen was 
fairly against the house. 

One morning, when about to rise, he heard an ominous squeal, 
and he knew what it meant, He ran out without waging to 
dress, and saw a vicious wolf dragging off one of his darling- 
pigs by the ear. He prided himself on his speed as a foot-racer, 
and he went after that wolf across the field, through the corn- 
stalks and over a fence. When the wolf came to the second 
fence, it saw that Mr. Bishop, scantily dressed as he was, traveled 
rather too swiftly, and it dropped the pig, which Mr. Bishop car- 
ried home in triumph. When the race was ended Mr. Bishop 
noticed for the first time that the rough cornstalks had bruised 
the cuticle on his legs so much that the blood was streaming 



m'lean county. 559 

down ; but bis joy at the recovery of the pig was s<» greal thai 
he cared little for bruises. Tbe settlers all over the country 
were annoyed very much by ibis same troublesome wolf, and 
were anxious to catch him. Joshua Hale bad a large dog, called 
Rover, big enough to pick up a wolf and run off withit. Joshua 
was always bragging of bis dog, and said if only Rover could 
get bold of that wolf, it would be tbe last of him. Tbe settlers 
all turned out o.n horseback to bunt the troublesome wolf, and 
finally cornered him in a fence and sent one of their number 
for Joshua Kale and Rover. Tbe dog came up on tbe opposite 
side ; tbe settlers let out tbe wolf and Hale said : "Seek him, 
Rover!" and it -would be supposed that Rover killed that wolf 
in fine style. Nothing of tbe kind; tbe big dog put bis tail be- 
tween bis legs and ran for home with the little wolf after him, and 
the disappointed settlers after them both ; tbe big dog- ran into 
tbe bouse and upset tbe baby's cradle, but tbe wolf ran past the 
door into the brush and escaped. Then those settlers were 
"wrathy," and were going to kill the dog then and there; but 
Joshua Hale turned towards them, and his eyes were tilled with 
tears as he puckered up bis mouth and said : "Boys, Rover never 
saw a wolf before. ISTow, 'spose you was in an Injin country and 
bad never seen an Injin before, and should suddenly see an Injin 
coming at you for tbe first time, wouldn't you run to a place of 
safety, wher' you know'd you'd be safe?" It was impossible to 
resist such a plea, and the hunters agreed that under such cir- 
cumstances they would "run to a place of safety, wher' they 
know'd they'd be safe." 

Tbe settlers often had difficulty with prairie tires. At one 
time James Bishop and bis brother Malon were obliged to get 
into a creek to escape from a fire that came rolling over the 
prairie. At another time he was driving some cattle across the 
prairie when a fire overtook him. He drove his horse directly 
through it, and came out safe, though somewhat burnt. His cat- 
tle tried to run away from the fire, but it swept over them and 
left them scattered and crazy, with their eyebrows and hair and 
the brushes of their tails burnt off. He collected them together, 
and none were lost. 

The town of Leroy was laid out by Samuel Durley and Mer- 
ritt Covel. Tbev wished to lay it out at Buckles' Grove on land 



560 OLD SETTLERS OF 

belonging to James Bishop, but Malon Bishop opposed it, and 
said he did not wish to live in a town, and it was finally located 
about half a mile from the grove. 

A great many funny stories are told of James Bishop, and 
one of the best is a story relating to a vicious bull. While taking 
items for the sketches in this volume, the author was repeatedly 
asked if he had heard this famous story, and it was told with 
many variations. It seems that* Mr. Bishop once purchased a 
fine bull and put it in his pasture. It was a very tame, inoffen- 
sive animal ; but some ill-disposed persons were accustomed to 
tease it, and it became vicious and^dangerous, and Mr. Bishop's 
men were afraid to enter the pasture and bring up his cows. 
This made Mr. Bishop angry, and he protested that the animal 
was perfectly inoffensive. His men told him to try the animal 
himself, and he said: "come on." He walked into the pasture, 
while the men stood outside to see the fun. He walked up to the 
animal boldly and confidently, but, contrary to his expectations, 
when it saw him it elevated its tail, put down its head, uttered a 
bellow and started for him. He was too close to retreat, so he 
set up a bellow, which perfectly astonished the bull. It stopped,, 
looked around, pawed the ground and appeared bewildered. At 
last, by a sudden flank movement, Bishop managed to get the 
animal by the tail, and it started to run. They went back and 
forth across the pasture, crosswise, lengthwise and cornerwise, 
while the men outside gave both parties encouraging words. The 
fierce animal at last became exhausted and gave up ; and that is 
the story of Bishop and the bull. 

James Bishop is a little less than the medium stature. His 
eyes are small, dark and expressive of fun. Humorous ideas 
come to him as naturally as his breath. He is slightly bent with 
age, but tough and hardy. He is lightly built, but very sinewy, 
and wonderfully quick. He seems at times careless and uncon- 
scious of danger, but whenever he gets into difficulty his resolu- 
tion and his marvelously quick motions bring him safely out. 
He has accumulated a fortune by farming and buying and selling 
cattle, and is reputed the wealthiest man in Empire township. 

James Bishop married Margaret Cannaday, March 9, 1837. 
He has had five children, all of whom are living. They are : 

Caroline, born June 26, 1838, Avife of Thomas Campbell, of 
Old Town timber. 



m'lean cor nt v. 561 

John Allen Bishop, born May 3, 1840, lives one half a mile 
west of his father's. 

Emily, born August 30, 1843, is the widow of William Evans. 

Rachel, wife of Nathaniel Beckman, was born Mny 23, 1846, 
and lives four miles southeast of her father's. 

James Quitman Bishop is married and lives at home. He 
was born November 24, 1848, the day when General Scott took 
the City of Mexico and made General Quitman the Governor 
therof. 

Thomas Jefferson Barnett. 

T. J. Barnett was born January 22, 1818, in Bourbon County, 
Kentucky. His father's name was Moses Barnett, and his moth- 
er's name before her marriage was Catherine Ellis. His parents 
were of English and German descent. 

In April, 1832, the family came to Illinois. They came by 
steamboat from Maysville down the Ohio River and up the Wa- 
bash to Filson's, near the town of Newport, Indiana. There the 
family were met by an elder brother of T. J. Barnett, and were 
transported by an ox-team to McLean County, Illinois, to the 
present township of Empire, within two miles of where Leroy 
now stands. 

Mr. Barnett there worked as a farmer, at which he continued 
until 1852, when he went into mercantile business. He has been 
a merchant ever since and has succeeded well. 

Mr. Barnett drove stock to Chicago, when that city was sim- 
ply a trading post of French and Indians. He has also driven 
stock to Wisconsin. He was in Chicago when the Indians were 
paid off, and there saw great quantities of hard money. The Indi- 
ans seemed to be very careless with their money, and one of them 
carried around a pail-full as indifferently as if it were molasses. 
Mr. Barnett found quite a number of coins in the sand. The 
Indians were many of them intoxicated, as the} 7 usually are, when 
they can obtain " fire water." One of the party, with whom Mr. 
Barnett was walking, placed a barrel over an intoxicated squaw, 
who was sitting in the sand. She appreciated the favor and said 
"good chemokoman" (good whiteman). She wanted to enjoy 
her goodnatos (whisky) in peace. Mr. Barnett went out on Fox 
River and broke prairie for the emigrants as they came in. There 
36 



5(32 OLD SETTLERS OF 

he saw many Indians, and his opinion of them was not favorable. 

He did not feel the charm of romance coming over him, as he 
gazed upon the "children of the forest;" on the contrary, he 
considered them a "dirty, nasty set," who never invested money 
in boot-blacking or toilet soap. They are incorrigibly lazy, but 
can hunt and fish and have some very pretty ponies. But that 
which provoked Mr. Barnett most particularly was the disposi- 
tion of the Indians to steal. When Mr. Barnett went up to Fox 
River, the party, in whose company he traveled, crossed the Illi- 
nois River on a ferry-boat. When a part of their teams were 
across, the remainder stood unprotected on the southern hank 
waiting for the return of the boat. While the teams were stand- 
ing unprotected, the Indians came up and took out of the wagons 
a lot of bacon and provisions, before the eyes of the angry drivers 
on the opposite bank. The redskins ran off with their plunder, 
and it was of no use to chase them. He remembers one other 
provoking incident. While he was ploughing on Fox River, 
some Indians came to him, riding their ponies on the keen run, 
and whooping with their loudest voices. They frightened his 
oxen out of the furrow, and this so angered him that he hit one 
of them on the bare back with his ox- whip, with such force that it 
brought the blood, and they left him. Mr. Barnett often visited 
the Indians and saw their curious performances. Their wigwams 
were thick on Fox River, after the Indians had left the other parts 
of the State. lie saw one tribe (the Ivickapoos, he thinks) bury 
a corpse and go through the ceremony of whipping a ball in 
various directions. This was called whipping the devil away. 
Mr. Barnett sometimes ran races with the Indians, but was un- 
fortunately beaten. This, however, was not the cause of his 
aversion to the redskins. 

Mr. Barnett remembers clearly the first deer he ever killed, 
as most hunters do. He borrowed a gun of his uncle and walked 
five miles to get it. His uncle directed him to shoot the deer 
just behind the shoulders. While hunting through the woods a 
large, fine buck jumped up and stood within fifty or sixty steps 
in front of him. He carefully took a rest on a large log, took 
aim behind the shoulder and fired. The deer went tearing through 
the brush with the blood flowing on both sides. After running 
a short distance it fell, and the youthful hunter took out his 



m'lean county. 563 

butcher-knife to bleed it, when he saw that the bullet had cut the 
deer's throat, passing through both veins. In taking aim lie had 
been affected with the "buck ague," bu1 his wild aim was better 

than the one he intended. He never again had the " buck ague." 
Mr. Barnett has had great sport in chasing Wolves and hunting 
turkeys. lie chased one wolf twenty miles. He hunted deer 
with ahorse, sharp shod, upon the ice, after the sudden change, 
which occurred in December, 1836. When the deer sprang upon 
the ice, their feet slipped from under them and stretched out in 
all directions. 

Mr. Barnett took some observations concerning the price 
of land, and says that before the land came into market the claims 
would frequently sell for more than the land would bring after it 
was pre-empted. 

Mr. Barnett appreciates a joke, and particularly enjoys one on 
James Bishop. He says that Mr. Bishop was occasionally a little 
absent minded. The latter once attended a dance and neglected 
to remove the enormous spurs, which he had worn while driving 
cattle, and they created much merriment as he went hopping over 
the floor. He says that Mr. Bishop was afflicted with a slight 
impediment in his speech, and that he once met a stranger, simi- 
larly affected, who was riding on a load of corn. Mr. Bishop 
wished to buy cattle, and, in their conversation, each thought 
himself mimicked by the other and they came to blows ! 

Mr. Barnett is rather above the average stature and somewhat 
slim. His countenance is rather pale, but is full of intelligence. 
His features are prominent, and his general appearance is that of 
a successful merchant. He has the reputation of being a most 
excellent man of business, and seems to understand it thoroughly. 
He is a man, who prefers not to interfere in the affairs of his 
neighbors, thinking his own business sufficient to occupy his 
attention. In politics he was an " old line" Whig, and after- 
wards a Republican, and has always taken a lively interest in 
Buch matters, though he has never held an office or been a seeker 
for one. 

Mr. Barnett married, February 18, 1845, Miss Emeline Gibhs. 
This lady is a graduate from Oberlin College. They have had 
six children, five of whom are living. They are : 



564 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Alice, wife of John S. Young, born August 19, 1846, lives at 
Leroy. 

Emma, wife of Denton Young, born July 1, 1848, lives at 
Leroy. 

Orwin Barnett, born June 21, 1851, died December, 30, 1852. 

Orrin Barnett, born October 13, 1853, lives at home. He is 
a remarkably fine musician. 

Lewra Barnett, born May 16, 1856, is married to William 
Brown, and lives at Leroy. 

George Barnett, born July 17, 1858, lives at home. 

Abram Buckles. 

Abram Buckles was born June 28, 1800, in Holston County, 
Virginia. He was one of eleven children, having seven brothers 
and three sisters. His father was raised in Virginia. They 
moved to White County, Illinois, in about the year 1810. When 
they started on their journey, they went first to the Clinch River 
fifty or sixty miles distant, and there took a keel-boat, Mr. 
Buckles, sr., who was an old boatman, acting as his own pilot. 
They came down the Tennessee, into which the Clinch River 
flows, and over the Muscle Shoals. It was the custom to employ 
the Indians as pilots over these shoals, but Mr. Buckles employed 
himself. They came up the Ohio River and the Wabash to what 
is now White County. Here they found a pretty good country 
for farming ; but the fever and ague lurked behind every stump, 
and it required three years to become seasoned to the climate. 
Mr. Buckles was so discouraged that he sold out everything and 
started to return to Virginia, but after going fifteen miles through 
Indiana he stopped, changed his mind, went to work for a man 
named Livingston, raised a crop, and in the fall returned to 
White County, Illinois. 

During the war of 1812, the settlers felt themselves in a dan- 
gerous situation on the frontier, and much of the time were col- 
lected in forts. Abram Buckles helped to build a fort in White 
County, and the family sometimes lived in it when signs of Indi- 
ans became alarming. Mr. Buckles, sr., belonged to the rangers. 
From sixty to a hundred scouts were kept out all the time. 
Abram Buckles, then a lad, clearly remembers the gathering of 
the Indians as they passed by on their way to Tippecanoe. They 



m'lean county. 565 

then professed warm friendship for the whites, and did not 
attempt to molest the settlers. One of the squaws cured Mr. 
Buckles, sr., of rheumatism in the arm, and it was, indeed, a 
very remarkable cure, though it required six days to bring it 
about. The Indians passed on to Tippecanoe, and there their 
professions of friendship were changed into active hostilities. 
The battle began at daybreak, and was fought with the greatest 
fury: but the Indians were at last defeated, and this broke their 
power during the remainder of the contest. It was the successful 
management of the forces of the whites in this battle, which made 
General Harrison president of the United States. 

In 18l9, Mr. Buckles married Miss Mary Williams. He has 
five sons and five daughters living. 

In 1832 he came with his family to Buckles' Grove. His 
experience in the West has been somewhat varied. He has occa- 
sionally done a little hunting, as all the old settlers have. He has 
had some fun while chasing wolves and running them down. 
This sport is not at all dangerous on account of the wolves, but 
in the excitement the horses were sometimes liable to stumble 
and fall. The wolves, when caught, were usually killed with a 
stirrup. He chased one wolf fifteen miles before catching it. 
Abram Buckles may almost be said to have inherited a love for 
hunting wolves. His father Jmnted them in Virginia. At one 
time the old gentleman caught a wolf in a pen and put a bell 
around its neck, in order that people might know when wolves 
were around. The wolf cautiously kept still, in the daytime, but 
at night his bell was often heard. Nevertheless, this did not pre- 
vent the ravages of the wolves among the sheep and pigs; the 
latter disappeared quite as often as before, and the next time the 
wolf fell into the trap he was killed. 

Mr. Buckles has often had trouble with prairie fires which 
burned stacks and fences. His brother Peter once had a lively 
time while crossing the prairie with an ox-team and wagon, in 
which was his wife. He saw the blaze coining at a great distance, 
and immediately jumped from his wagon and fired his gun 
through the dry grass. It blazed up quickly and soon a burnt 
place was made upon which he drove his oxen, and he managed 
to hold them until the fire passed on. The heat was terrible, and 
seemed almost unbearable, for the hot air passes ahead of the fire 



566 OLD SETTLERS OF 

for some distance. His wife covered herself up in the blankets 
and suffered little. Abram Buckles tells of a party of bee-lmnters 
who came up from Sangamon County in search of honey. They 
were quite successful and started on their return. When they 
had gone a few miles south of where Bloomington now stands, 
one of the hunters started a tire for the fun of seeing it burn. It 
came on them closer and closer, until they started up their team ; 
then it went faster and faster, until they jumped from the wagon 
into the creek to save themselves. Their wagon and load of 
honey were burnt; and this was the result of building a fire "for 
the run of it," 

Mr. Buckles' experience with the sudden change in the weather 
in December, 1836, is this. He was husking corn about a mile 
from the house on that mild winter's day, when the ground was 
covered with water and snow. The west wind came, and he 
hastened home, but long' before he arrived there the frozen slush 
bore his weight, He tells of a terrible event connected with this 
sudden change. A man, whose name, he thinks, was McHildreth, 
and his companion, were returning on horseback from the East, 
where they had been selling cattle, and were within a few miles 
of the Little Vermilion (-reek, when the west wind struck them. 
They hastened to the creek, but it was high and filled with 
moving ice. The nearest dwelling on their side of the creek was 
twelve miles distant, and they had their choice to wait for the 
creek to freeze over or ride twelve miles. On the opposite side 
they asked a man to cut down a tree to let them across, but he 
refused, because of the cold, or in order to get their money when 
they should freeze. He directed them to a grove about four miles 
distant, where he said they would find a house, but no house was 
there. At last they determined to kill their horses, cut them 
open, crawl into them and keep warm. Mr. McHildreth struck 
at his horse's throat with his knife, but the animal drew up 
quickly, jerked away and disappeared. His companion killed the 
other horse, cut it Open and crawled in, but instead of keeping 
warm was frozen to death. Mr. McHildreth remained by the 
creek until it was frozen over, when he crossed it and found 
assistance, but his hands and feet were frozen, and his fingers and 
toes afterwards dropped off. We have heard this incident related 
by several other settlers. 



m"li:\x county. 567 

Tlie stories and incidents related of this sudden change are 
never ending, and are more curious and strange even than those 
of the deep snow. 

Mr. Buckles attended the land sales in 1835, at Vandalia. At 
these sales no speculator was allowed to come near, until the 
settlers had attended to their claims and bid off their lands. 

The first camp-rmeeting in Empire township was held in 1835 
or '36, on Dickerson's farm, about a mile from where Leroy now 
is. Mr. Buckles was absent at the time, but his recollection of 
the matter is made lively by the fact that his oxen were taken to 
haul wood, and in felling a tree one of them was killed. 

Mr. Buckles has taken some interest in politics, has always 
been a Democrat, and kept himself informed on the current topics 
of the day. He says that one of the most exciting questions of 
old days was the one relating to the Mormons. The excitement 
was highest in 1841, '42 and '43. The Mormons sent out preachers 
to make converts, and the people could examine into the beauties 
of the Mormon faith. Mr. Buckles listened to one preacher, 
who told of a terrible contest which would one day come, but 
was very indefinite as to the nature of the grand affair, or who 
the parties to it were ; nevertheless, he was successful in making 
an impression on some ignorant people. 

Abrain Buckles is rather a tall man and quite fleshy. He 
always wears a smile, and is ever ready with an old-fashioned 
welcome. He is a very quiet man, but decided in his views. His 
disposition is pretty well shown by a circumstance which hap- 
pened during the late campaign, when Horace Greeley and Gene- 
ral Grant were candidates for the presidency. Mr. Buckles' 
friends wished him to go for Mr. Greeley, and reasoned the mat- 
ter again and again. At one time two gentlemen, who were 
particularly enthusiastic, talked to Mr. Buckles for an hour or 
more, and explained to him the 'whole situation. He listened to 
them without a word of opposition, and with a kind smile on his 
countenance, and finally they asked him if the matter was not 
plain. "Yes," said Mr. Buckles, " it is plain that he is the same 
old Horace !" 



568 old settlers of 

James Kimler. 

James Kimler was born August 16, 1811, in Loudon County, 
Virginia. He is of German and Welch descent. In 1813 the 
family went to Kentucky, and in 1823 they came to Crawfords- 
ville, Montgomery County, Indiana. During the year previous 
he went with his father on a visit to Indiana, and in 1823 the 
family moved there to settle. In those days the militia were 
obliged to turn out to muster. James Kimler remembers one 
circumstance, which happened when his brother Richard was 
riding to muster on a fractious horse. Just before reaching a 
creek, the party with whom he was riding began to beat the 
drum and make music, and Richard's horse took fright and 
pitched the young man into the creek. 

At that time a wild root, called ginseng, was in great de- 
mand, and people hunted for it through the woods, and many 
made their living by digging it. It was very useful for medical 
purposes. On Deer Creek, about fifty miles from Crawfords- 
ville, was a ginseng factory for drying and preparing this root 
for use. It was bought at the factory for six cents per pound. 
At one time Mr. Kimler went on an expedition for hunting gin- 
seng. The party went up to nearly the mouth of Eel River, 
which was then a wild Indian country. Many curious incidents 
occurred on their journey. They started about the first of Sep- 
tember, and went to Wildcat Creek. There they found a fish 
trap, where a wagon-load of fish was caught in a single night. 
This trap was arranged at the fall of the stream, and when the 
fish went over the fall they could not return ; neither could they 
go forward, for some stakes were placed below to stop them, 
though the water flowed through. The party went up to the 
Wabash. One evening when they went to water their horses, 
they began to sink in quicksand. All turned around and went 
out except an uncle of James'. The old gentleman was deeply 
in the quicksand, and saw that an attempt to turn around would 
sink his horse so deep as to make it impossible to get out. He 
therefore went ahead into the river, and his horse swam around 
in the water and came back safely. The old gentleman could 
not swim, but said he knew "Old Charley" would bring him 
out. The party went up near the battle grouud of Tippecanoe 



m'lban county. 569 

and visited the graves of the dead, and then came home with 
very little ginseng, but with some experience. 

The Kimler family came to Bloomington, McLean County, 
Illinois, during the winter of 1832. In 1833 James was advised 
by his uncle to enter the little grove where Thomas Orendorff 
now lives, but James had an idea that all the fine land and pretty 
spots had been entered before, and he therefore started with 
James K., Benjamin and Alfred Orendorff to Milwaukee, Wis- 
consin. There he did pretty well, and took up some valuable 
claims. They started on this trip in January, 1836, when the 
weather was extremely cold. Towards evening of the second day's 
travel they sent James Orendorff ahead with their only horse to a 
house to order supper. When they came to the house they found 
Orendorff fencing up the road. He said nobody lived there and 
no road should lead there ! When they reached Chicago they 
tried to buy each of them a blanket, but not one was to be 
found. The place was too poor to afford even a blanket. They 
suffered much with cold, but went on to Milwaukee and there 
lived through the remainder of the winter with the brother of 
Alfred Orendorff. In the spring they found half a dozen bee- 
trees, out of which they obtained a barrel of strained honey, and 
lived sweetly during the remainder of their stay in Wisconsin. 
In May of that spring a man named Finch was burning lime 
near Milwaukee. It was made of blue limestone, which cracks 
when burnt and makes reports, which sound like the firing of 
guns. About this time a certain Mr. Scott killed an Indian in 
the streets in Milwaukee, and great fear was apprehended lest 
the Indians should attack the place. The three bachelors were 
waked up on one Sunday morning by a loud popping and 
thought the Indians were making the attack, but the sounds 
proved to be the explosions at Finch's lime-kiln. 

In the summer William Orendorff came up from Blooming- 
ton to make his sons a visit and to look at the country. The 
whole party then started on an excursion westward, intending to 
go as far as Rock River. They camped one night on the Mc- 
Quonego River, not far from where a certain Mr. Cox lived. 
During one moonlight night they were awakened by a great upr 
roar under the wagon, and found it was a gray wolf fighting 
Cox's dog. They chased the wolf over a precipice and one of 



570 OLD SETTLERS OF 

them excitedly went over with it. They surrounded it with 
cluhs and killed it. 

Mr. Kimler returned after four or five years. On the 28th of 
January, 1838, he married Miss Cassandra Jane Clearwater, of 
Leroy. In February of that year he went back to Milwaukee 
with two ox-teams, but returned in 1840 for the health of his 
wife. He has lived near Leroy ever since, and has been a very 
successful farmer. 

James Kimler is somewhat less than the usual stature. He 
is strongly and solidly made, and can bear a great deal of hard 
work. He is a very safe man in the disposition and control of his 
property. His neighbors have great confidence in his word and 
judgment. He has had seven children. They are ; 

Mary Jane Kimler was born November 10, 1838. She was 
first married to William Ross. During the war he enlisted in 
the Second Illinois Cavalry and was killed at the battle of Boli- 
var in Tennessee. Two sons were born by this marriage and 
live with their grandparents. They are : James Leander and 
John Orlando Ross. Mrs. Ross afterwards married Louis Stout, 
and now lives at Downer's Grove, near Chicago. 

Elizabeth Ann Kimler, born May 18, 1840, died in October, 
1843. 

Martha Ellen, wife of Joseph Neal, born August 24, 1842, 
lives in Farmer City. 

Harriet Barthena, wife of James L. Silvers, born February 
13, 1845, lives in Farmer City. 

Sarah Cassandra, wife of Preston Bishop, born December 
17, 1847, lives four miles southeast of her parents. 

Elizabeth Ann, wife of John Lore, born March 23, 1850, 
lives at the head of Old Town timber. 

Caroline Kimler, born May 20, 1853, lives with her parents. 

Hiram Buck. 

Hiram Buck, usually known as 'Squire Buck, was born 
March 20, 1801, in Seneca County, New York. His father, 
William S. Buck, was a soldier of the Revolution. He volun- 
teered at the age of fifteen, and aasisted at the capture of Gen- 
eral Cornwallis at Yorktown. Hiram Buck received his common 
school education in Seneca County, where he was born. He re- 



m'lean county. f>71 

members very clearly the war-of 1812, as three of his brothers 
were soldiers in it. One of his brothers, Sherman Buck, was 
captured at Queenstown Heights, where our army wns com- 
manded by General Van Renssellaer. General Winfield Scott, 
then a lieutenant, was captured there. The raw recruits were 
frightened at the sight of the wounded at the opening of the 
battle and were afraid to cross the river to the support of those 
who had captured the heights. Another brother, James Buck, 
helped to bury tho dead after the burning of Buffalo. The third 
brother, William Buck, helped to demolish Fort Erie before its 
evacuation by our troops. 

In 1818 the Buck family moved to North Bend, Hamilton 
County, Ohio. The journey was made from Seneca County to 
the head waters of the Allegheny River on sleds. At Olean 
Point they took a covered flat-boat about ten feet long and thirty 
feet wide, and started down the river. They began their journey 
on the water on the 13th of April, and floated nine hundred 
miles down to Cincinnati, where they landed on the 1st of May. 
During a part of their journey they lashed their boat to a raft, 
but at a place called Dead Man's Island the raft was staved to 
pieces and the boat cut loose from it. They landed at Cincin- 
nati and went from there to North Bend, where General Harrison 
lived. The General was a very popular man and was almost 
worshipped by his neighbors. He was a very wealthy man and 
kind-hearted and benevolent, but had a high temper, and was 
sharp spoken when provoked. 

Mr. Buck taught school for five winters in the southern part 
of the county at the mouth of the Miami River. When he went 
there he expected a hard time in managing the scholars, for their 
previous teachers had been driven out of school for two winters. 
But fortunately Mr. Buck attended a corn-husking previous to 
entering the school and wrestled with the leader of the insur- 
gent scholars and threw him. The young man's arm was unfor- 
tunately broken in the fall, and Mr. Buck regretted this very 
much, but the school was at peace that winter. This was in 1823. 
He kept the school for six months. 

In 1825-6 Mr. Buck was a flatboatman on the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi Rivers. His flat-boat was loaded with cattle, pork and 
corn, which he took down to. New Orleans. This life on the 



572 OLD SETTLERS OF 

water was hard and adventurous.- In the latter part of January, 
1825, his flat-boat was jammed into the ice about eighteen miles 
above Louisville, and remained there twenty-six days, being left 
high and dry by the falling water. But during the latter part of 
February the water rose and took them off. 

In 1826 Mr. Buck moved to Switzerland County, Indiana. 

Mr. Buck married, April 4, 1827, in Hamilton County, Ohio, 
Mercy Karr, the j-oungest child in the family of Captain John 
Karr. John Karr had served in the Revolutionary war as a 
captain in Wayne's Legion, and had fought in many battles. 
In accordance with a queer statute of Ohio, Mr. Buck was ob- 
liged to give security for his wife's maintenance. His brother- 
in-law was married about the same time, and the two happy 
bridegrooms went security for each other. 

In 1833 Mr. Buck came to McLean County, Illinois, to Ran- 
dolph's Grove, just east of the present town of Heyworth. The 
journey was quite interesting. He went from Cincinnati to St. 
Louis and there changed boat for Pekin, but could only go up as 
far as Beardstown, for there they grounded on a bar. He left 
his family there and came to Bloomington on horseback to find 
teams to bring them across the prairie. During the latter part 
of his journey he made the acquaintance of Isaac Funk, who 
showed the road, and traveled more than a quarter of a mile out 
on the prairie to point the way. He went back to Beardstown 
with two teams and brought his family. This was in the fore 
part of April, when the country was so dry that the horses could 
hardly wet their feet in traveling the whole distance. The season 
was dry until June, when a freshet came, and everything was 
flooded. The people on the way seldom thought of charging 
anything for their trouble in entertaining the travelers, and Mr. 
Buck's bills for meals and lodging during their journey from 
Beardstown to Randolph's Grove amounted to only three bits. 
The people said : "We were strangers once, and we ourselves 
once needed accommodation." Mr. Buck's family lived for a 
while in a cabin just east of 'Squire Campbell Wakefield's 
house. 

Mr. Buck tells some curious things connected with the sud- 
den change of the weather in December, 1836. He had been to 
the house of a neighbor, and when the cold wind came threw a 



m'lean county. 573 

wet overcoat on his shoulders and started for home. ' When the 
cold wind struck him, it blew out his overcoat and froze it im- 
mediately in the shape it took when extended. "When he arrived 
home, he had difficulty in pulling his coat through the door. 
This great wind-storm came from the west to the Mississippi 
River at about ten o'clock a. m., came to Leroy about three p. 
M., and reached Indianapolis at about eleven p. m. It will thus 
be seen that it moved from the Mississippi River to Leroy at 
about the rate of thirty miles an hour, and from Leroy to Indi- 
anapolis at about the rate of twenty miles an hour. 

In 1837 Mr. Buck went to Leroy and there opened a hotel. 
The usual price for supper, lodging and breakfast, for man and 
horse, was half a dollar, but this came near breaking the land- 
lord. 

In 1835 Mr. Buck was County Surveyor and helped to lay out 
Waynesville, Lytleville, Mt. Pleasant (now Farmer City) and an 
addition to Leroy. He was busy surveying for two or three 
years. He was postmaster at Leroy from 1838 to 1844 under 
Postmaster General Amos Kendall. In 1839 he was elected 
justice of the peace, which office he held for eighteen years al- 
most continuously. He was elected County Commissioner in 
1851 and held his office until the township organization in 1858. 

Mr. Buck is rather less than the medium stature. His coun- 
tenance shows the effect of age, though he is still strong and in 
good health. The lines on his face seem to show resolution, hon- 
esty and sound judgment. He is a humorous man and sometimes 
slightly eccentric. He says he has been a subscriber to the Star 
of the West for forty-six years and always paid his subscription. 
He has received two presents for being one of the oldest subscri- 
bers. He has lived all this time with one woman, without a 
divorce ! He says he has never laid a claim against a deceased 
person's estate. For fifty-six successive years he has been a 
hand in the harvest field, and can work again quite as well. He 
takes a great interest in educational matters, and last winter was 
commissioned by the Governor of the State as Trustee from the 
Eighth Congressional District, of Lombard University. 

He has had six children, five of whom are living. They are : 

Amanda Melcina, wife of James H. L. Crumbaugh, lives 
three-quarters of a mile south of her father's. She was born 
July 10, 1828. 



574 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Thomas* Lee Buck, born October 23, 1831, lives a half mile 
south of his parents. 

Elizabeth Rebecca, born February 21, 1834, died February 
13, 1837. 

Martha Ellen, wife of John McConnell, born December 14, 
1838, lives two miles west of her parents. 

Nancy Joanna, born February 19, 1843, wife of Isaac Frank- 
lin Dawson, lives at home. 

Charles Albert Buck, born August 19, 1849, lives at home. 
He attends Lombard University and intends to study law. He 
is a young man of good promise. 

Hon. Malon Bishop. 

Malon Bishop was born December 25, 1810, in Clark County, 
Ohio. His ancestors were Virginians. His father was a well 
educated and plain-spoken man, and insisted in spelling his 
son's name Malon, leaving out the "h." Malon Bishop was 
raised a farmer, and early accustomed himself to work. He ob- 
tained his early education at a common school. He was a good 
scholar and behaved himself well. It was the custom in those 
days in Ohio to bar out the teacher on Christmas days ; this was 
the fashion, and of course Malon Bishop used to follow the 
fashion. 

On the twenty-third of March, 1831, Mr. Bishop married 
Catharine J. Foley. He has had a family of eight children, four 
of whom are living, two boys and two girls. 

After living for a while in Clark County, and afterwards in 
Champaign, Mr. Bishop started for the Far West. He came to 
Old Town timber in the fall of 1834, and in the following spring 
moved to Buckles' Grove, now Empire township. His land had 
been entered during the previous Januarj\ In September, 
1835, Mr. Bishop attended the land sales ; there the settlers 
formed lines to keep every one from coming near until they had 
bought what land they] wished ; the remainder was left for specu- 
lators. 

In June, 1835, Mr. Bishop had the roof of his house carried 
away by a hurricane, at midnight, and the rain came pouring in. 
His wife was sick at the time and delirious, and it was not until 
the next morning that reason returned to her. Then she looked 



m'lean county. 575 

-up from her bed and saw the blue sky above her and everything 
wet with the rain and she almost questioned whether reason had 
indeed returned. The roof was soon replaced and Mr. Bishop, 
who had been somewhat depressed, again took courage. 

Mr. Bishop has occasionally held office. In 1837 he was elect- 
ed justice of the peace, and in 1842 he was sent to the legisla- 
ture. During the latter year the Whigs first nominated Matthew 
Robb and afterwards James Miller, and the Democratic central 
committee put up Malon Bishop. The latter was very active in 
the work of electioneering and was voted for by many Whigs 
and elected as an honest farmer rather than as the nominee of 
a party. The country was then in a desperate condition; the 
banks had failed and many thought the legislature responsible 
for the sad situation. Mr. Bishop, when elected, felt himself in 
a very trying position ; everything was expected of him and he was 
supposed to be able to accomplish impossibilities. Political mat- 
ters were still further confused by the Mormon question and the 
Mormon war. The country was infested with horse-thieves, 
counterfeiters, burglars and murderers, and they made their 
headquarters at Nauvoo, the Mormon capital. The people were 
terribly excited and thought the Mormons should be driven out 
of the country. Great depredations were committed by the 
Danite band and it is supposed that Governor Boggs of Missouri 
'was shot and severely wounded by them. A requisition was 
made upon Governor Ford for Joe Smith and Hiram Smith, but 
these leaders of the Mormon church could not he found until 
Ford offered a reward for them. When this was done they im- 
mediately gave themselves up and claimed the reward of their 
own capture. They were finally examined, but it appeared that 
they had not been out of the State of Illinois and certainly did 
not personally assist in the shooting. The Mormons were so ter- 
rified by the threats of the settlers that they began arming for 
defense ; but this only stirred up the settlers the more. Gov- 
ernor Ford called out the militia to keep the people quiet, and 
to one company was assigned the duty of guarding Joe Smith 
and Hiram Smith; but instead of guarding them, the company 
allowed them to be killed at Carthage by a lot of desperate men 
who wished to exterminate them all. At last the Mormons 
agreed to leave the country and prepared to do so; but the set- 



576 OLD SETTLERS OF 

tiers became impatient and arose in arms and drove them off. 
All of these troubles increased the difficulties of the legislature; 
and the responsibilities which Malon Bishop felt resting upon 
him were indeed hard to bear. At that important session the 
State Bank of Illinois at Springfield and the Bank of the State 
of Illinois at Shawneetown were put in liquidation, and these 
two rotten corporations, which issued so much worthless money 
and assisted so much to bring financial ruin, were forever closed. 
The Illinois and Michigan canal also gave much troubleto this 
overburdened legislature. The canal required $1,600,000 to com- 
plete it, but this amount was finally raised and the work done. 
It was this legislature, which should live in history, that pre- 
vented the State of Illinois from repudiating its bonds, and gave 
them ever afterwards a firm standing in the money markets 
of the world. Never before in the history of the State was so 
much expected of a legislature, and never before were expecta- 
tions so perfectly realized. It may be indeed a matter of pride 
to Mr. Bishop to have belonged to this public body which did 
itself and the State so much honor. Mr. Bishop tells of a queer 
incident which happened while he was in Springfield during the 
session. The State of Illinois received three per cent, of all the 
sales of public lands, and its money, which was kept at St. Louis, 
increased to thirty-seven thousand dollars. The legislature au- 
thorized James Shields, the state auditor, to go to St. Louis, buy 
a safe, and bring the money to Springfield. He took a two-horse 
covered wagon and an Irishman as a guard, went to St. Louis, 
bought a safe, locked the money in it, put it in his wagon and 
came to Springfield. The legislature adjourned to meet him. 
He and his Irishman came following the wagon and carrying 
their muskets through the mud until they arrived at the portico 
of the State House. Here Shields gave the order to "ground 
arms," and he and his Irishman "grounded arms," while the 
members of the legislature unloaded the wagon. Shields was 
very tired and did not become rested for several days. 

The members of this legislature received for their pay three 
hundred and ninety-two dollars in depreciated money, certificates 
of bank indebtedness and auditor's warrants. They used their 
auditor's warrants for taxes and sold their certificates of bank 
indebtedness to be used by those who were indebted to the 
banks. 



m'lean county. 577 

Mr. Bishop has been a hard worker all his life. He has held 
many township offices, was supervisor in 1863 and '64. 

Mr. Bishop remembers an incident of the Mexican war. 
When volunteers were called for in 1846 the whole community 
was very naturally excited and notice was given at a camp-meet- 
ing that volunteers would be called for. But when the volun- 
teering commenced the government could not accept half of the 
men who were anxious to go. 

Mr. Bishop has, of course, a very lively recollection of the 
sudden change in the weather which occurred in December, 
1836. When the freezing west wind came after a thaw and warm 
rain, the weather became immediately most intensely cold. He 
saw a short distance from his house John C. Bradley and Aaron 
S. Williams with teams bringing loads of live hogs, and when the 
storm struck them, they went to Mr. Bishop's house for shelter. 
Their clothes, which were wet, froze on them instantly, and when 
they came to the house, Williams' overcoat, when pulled off, 
would stand on the floor. The harness on the horses were froz- 
en so stiff that, when the traces were unhitched, they stood out 
straight. A bridle rein was thrown over a post, but it stood out 
from the post without falling down. The cold was so severe that 
the harness could not be removed from the horses for two days. 
John Bradley succeeded in reaching home with his sled and one 
yoke of oxen, the other oxen he turned loose in the timber and 
did not recover them for two days. 

Like all the early settlers, Mr. Bishop speaks warmly of the 
good feeling which formerly prevailed among all Western 
people. When they met a stranger they were always anxious to 
take care of him and assist him and his family, if he had one. 

Malon Bishop is the picture of good humor. He is of me- 
dium stature and not heavily built; his face has on it all the 
good-natured lines, and his voice has a pleasant ring to it, and 
even his Roman nose may be described as a good-natured nose. 
He has a great deal of shrewdness and is quick to see both sides 
of a question. He is always on the alert, and gets up at five 
o'clock in the morning to see that everything is moving right- 
He has never been troubled with any of the diseases of the coun- 
try, but has always enjoyed the best of health. He has always 
37 



578 OLD SETTLERS OF 

been on the most friendly terms with his neighbors and no man 
ever complained of him for want of a warm welcome. 

His children are: 

Nancy Jane, born in Clark County, Ohio, May 1, 1832, mar- 
ried Mark M. Craig, October 13, 1853, and resides in West town- 
ship. 

Stephen Lewis, born January 14, 1835, was twice married, 
but is now a widower. He resides in Leroy. 

James F. was born December 6, 1836, and died August 6, 
1862. 

Elias was born January 12, 1839, and died March 11, 1864. 

Catherine, born April 4, 1842, married William Hammond, 
December 12, 1861, and resides in West township. 

Elizabeth, born June 22, 1845, died August 24, 1869. 

Sarah Ann, born April 1, 1848, died in infancy. 

Malon, born June 13, 1649, lives at home. 

Thomas Davidson Gilmore. 

Thomas D. Gilmore was born November 18, 1814, in Warren 
County, Kentucky. His father's name was Andrew H. Gilmore, 
and his mother's name, before her marriage, was Margaret Price. 
The former was of Irish descent, and the latter was probably of 
Scotch. Mr. Gilmore, sr., lived to the advanced age of ninety- 
eight, and died in 1870, in Old Town timber. He possessed a 
strong mind, and was active and a worker to the last. He worked 
a little too hard, or he would have lived longer. His son made 
great efforts to preserve the old gentleman's life for two years 
longer, to make him a century old, but this was not to be. 

Mr. T. D. Gilmore lived in Warren County, Kentucky, until 
October, 1836, when he came to Old Town timber, McLean 
County, Illinois. Here he put up a log house with a puncheon 
floor, a clapboard door, a bedstead with one leg, in a corner of 
the room, and the other furniture to match. He had moved into 
this little cabin with his family only a short time before the sud- 
den change of December came. It seemed for a while as if the 
Gilmore family w r ould be frozen out, and they wished themselves 
back to old Kentucky ; but they stood the storm and protected 
their stock, so that nothing froze. After Leroy was laid out, 
Mr. Gilmore moved there, and followed for some years his pro- 
fession as a blacksmith. 



m'lean county. 579 

He did not make the trips to Chicago as the other settlers 
did, but sent his wheat and corn by other parties and paid them 
in blacksmithing. 

Mr. Gilmore never was a hunter. He once took his gun and 
went after deer, shot six times and missed continually. He 
returned home and laid his ill luck to his gun, but never hunted 
more. 

In 1846, Mr. Gilmore went to Kentucky on a visit, but be- 
came interested in business and stayed until 1850, when he 
returned to Old Town timber, near the northern boundary of 
Empire township, where he has lived ever since. 

On the second of January, 1834, he married Matilda Saw- 
age, in Kentucky. She died October 5, 1839. By this marriage 
he had three children. They are : 

Martha Francis, wife of James W. Wright, lives in Leroy. 

Mary Matilda, wife of John Swan, died about eight years 
ago. 

Joseph P. Gilmore has a furniture store in Streator. 

On the eleventh of December, 1840, Mr. Gilmore married 
Mar} 7 Jane Brannaman. They have had six children, of whom 
five are living. They are : 

Andrew D. Gilmore died in infancy. 

Ira F. Gilmore lives in Streator. 

Lucinda Margaret, wife of Richard C. Charleston, lives in 
Streator. 

Kentucky, Elizabeth Ada and Augusta Maud, all live at 
home. 

Mr. Gilmore is nearly six feet in height, weighs about one 
hundred and seventy pounds, is very muscular, and must have 
made a good blacksmith. He has a bald head, with a good 
development of brain, has dark eyes, a nose slightly Roman, 
and whiskers nearly white. He is a humorous man, very accom- 
modating, very honest and fair-minded. He has been quite 
successful ; has a good home and enjoys life. He likes his resi- 
dence in Old Town timber, but has warm feelings for old Ken- 
tucky, and for this reason named one of his children after that 
dear old State. 



580 OLD SETTLERS OF 



FUNK'S GROVE. 

Hon. Isaac Funk. 

Isaac Funk was born November 17, 1797, in Clark County, 
Kentucky. His ancestors were of German extraction, his grand- 
father, Adam Funk, having emigrated from Germany at an early 
day. His mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Moore, was 
also of German descent. Adam Funk, jr., the father of Isaac, 
was raised in Virginia, and was, at one time, quite wealthy ; but 
misfortunes came and he lost his property and died poor. Isaac 
Funk was one of nine children, six boys and three girls. He 
had very little schooling, but was prepared for the struggle of 
life by the roughest out-door education, where his muscles were 
developed, and his practical good sense was brought into ex- 
ercise. 

In 1807 his father moved to Fayette County, Ohio; but when 
Isaac was twenty-three years of age he went back to Virginia 
to the Kanawha Salt Works, where he remained one year. He 
then returned to Ohio, where, for the next two years, he worked 
on a farm for eight or ten dollars per month. 

In the year 1823, Mr. Funk set out for Illinois, but did not 
arrive there until the following April, as he was detained by 
high water in the Wabash River. He first went to Sangamon 
County, but on the third of May he settled in Funk's Grove, in 
the present McLean County. Here he and his brother Absalom, 
who had accompanied him from Ohio, and Mr. William Brock, 
built a little pole shanty, twelve by fourteen feet, at the south- 
east side of the grove, a short distance from the homestead of 
the Funk family. This little shanty is described as "a small 
pole cabin, twelve by fourteen feet, covered by riven four feet 
clapboards, with a roof put on with weight poles instead of 
nails, floor laid with peeled elm bark, Indian fashion, no win- 
dow, and one door made of clapboards." The Funks then went 
to breaking prairie and buying and selling cattle. Mr. Stubble- 
field and Mrs. Stubblelield, their sister, came out from Ohio 
and kept their house for them for one year, and after this they 
hired various families to keep the shanty for another year. 



m'lean county. 581 

In June, 18'26, Isaac Funk married Miss Cassandra Sharp of 
Fort Clark (Peoria). This lady was born in Baltimore, Mary- 
land. When she was only three years of age her father emi- 
grated to Ohio, and sixteen years afterwards to Fort Clark, Ills., 
where, at the age of twenty-four, she became Mrs. Funk. The 
dowry which Mr. Funk obtained with his wife was a cow, a 
spinning-wheel and a bed. But he obtained with his wife some- 
thing better than money; he found in her a noble-minded 
woman. She was an active, stirring woman, and possessed of 
the best of sense and discretion ; and perhaps it was in some 
measure due to her influence that Mr. Funk was afterwards so 
remarkably successful. 

Absalom Funk was ten years older than Isaac, and was not 
married until 1840. At his death he left no children. Absalom 
and Isaac continued their business, farming, raising stock and 
buying and selling cattle, horses, mules, hogs, etc., etc., until 
1838, when they dissolved partnership. They had many hard 
times and were often in difficult situations, but their good judg- 
ment and determined wills always carried them triumphantly 
through. At one time they met with a very severe loss. In 
1837 they considered themselves worth about eighteen thousand 
dollars. During this year, Archibald Clybourne, the oldest set- 
tler in Chicago, failed, and the Funks lost seven thousand dol- 
lars by him. ISTot long after this, a man named Doyle absconded 
from Chicago without paying his debts, and took with him two 
thousand dollars belonging to the Funks. This loss seemed to 
affect Absalom very much. He had remained in Chicago to 
settle with Doyle after selling him two thousand dollars worth 
of hogs, while Isaac had returned to his home. But Doyle gave 
Absalom the slip and got away, and as the latter had not money 
enough to follow, he came to Isaac Funk's to relate the misfor- 
tune. He came in, and, after sitting uneasily by the fire, ex- 
claimed : " Well, Ike, that Doyle has run away with every cent 
of money he owed us. I'd have followed him to — (a very 
warm place) if I had have had money enough to have traveled." 
Absalom regretted the loss, not so much on his own account, as 
on account of Isaac, who had a wife and children growing up 
around him. But Isaac took the matter coolly and hopefully, 
and went to work with all his energy to repair the misfortune. 



582 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Not long after this they dissolved partnership, dividing their 
goods by the lump rule. Isaac obtained rather the best of the 
bargain, as he had a family to support. 

While the Funks were in partnership they drove cattle and 
horses and other stock to Galena, Chicago, Ohio and wherever 
they could find a market. They traveled in all kinds of weather 
and took their provisions with them from home. In the winter 
of 1841-2 Isaac started for Chicago with a drove of five hun- 
dred hogs, and, while in Livingston County, was overtaken by 
a sleet-storm. The ground became so slippery that it seemed 
impossible to proceed. After waiting a few days he determined 
to go on and was obliged to cut the ice in many places with an 
axe in order to give the hogs a foothold. He was obliged to 
exercise a great deal of ingenuity and use many new devices. 
He tied the legs of some of the hogs together to prevent them 
from slipping too much. But notwithstanding all his exertions 
he could only go a short distance, and was detained eighteen 
days. At the end of that time a heavy fall of snow covered the 
ground and made it easy for his hogs to travel, and he succeeded 
in reaching Chicago without further trouble. 

The season of 1844 was the one known as the wet season. 
It commenced to rain in May and continued all summer until 
August. The creeks and rivers were all overflowed, and a large 
part of the country was under water. The crops raised that 
year were very poor, as the excessive rain almost ruined them. 
During that season Mr. Funk went to Missouri to buy cattle. 
He started in May and was gone about five months, and his 
family almost despaired of ever hearing of him again. But 
in October he returned with seven hundred head of cattle. He 
had, while gone, traveled over a large extent of country; he 
had crossed creeks and rivers and by his great exertions had 
overcome all difficulties. Although he could not swim he 
crossed streams of water every day by hanging to the mane of 
his horse and allowing the animal to carry him over. But the 
speculation was not a fortunate one. Owing to the wet season 
many of his cattle took the foot-evil and the sore tongue and 
became poor and died. During this season he lost about eleven 
hundred dollars. 

It is not easy for us to take our mind back to early days and 
to place the condition of things correctly in our imagination. 



m'lean county. 583 

We can only obtain some small idea by making comparisons and 
looking at particular things. It is said of Mr. Funk that he 
"did not own a wagon for seven years ; went to mill near 
Sprinfield, fifty miles, with oxen ; took from ten to fourteen 
bushels of corn (no wheat then) part of the way with a cart and 
sled ; carried a plough thirty miles on a horse to get it sharp- 
ened, and carried a barrel for Sauerkraut ten miles home on 
horseback." 

The result of all this energy and industry was that Mr. Funk 
became worth, at the time of his death, a large fortune, perhaps 
not far from two millions of dollars. Perhaps some one will 
think that Mr. Funk must have kept a corps of clerks and book- 
keepers to know where all his property was, and to keep the 
matter clearly in mind. But on the contrary he never kept a 
diary or memorandum book or a regular account book. 

In politics Mr. Funk was positive and decided in his views. 
He was a staunch Whig up to the year 1854, when the Republi- 
can party was formed, and then he joined it and remained an 
honored member of that organization until the day of his death. 
In 1840 he was elected to the Legislature of the State, but no 
particular note is made of his connection with politics at that 
time. In 1862 he was elected to the State Senate to fill the un- 
expired term of General Oglesby, and at the expiration of his 
term was re-elected and remained a member until his death. It 
was in February, 1863, while he was in the State Senate that he 
made his celebrated speech in favor of an appropriation for the 
Sanitary Commission. The circumstances under which the 
speech was made were these : The opponents of the war had a 
majority in the Legislature and were determined to prevent the 
passage of an appropriation in aid of the Sanitary Commission. 
They tried to prevent the matter from coming to a vote by 
making all kinds of dilatory motions, and they also discussed 
the propriety of sending commissioners to a peace convention 
which was to meet at Louisville. All of this aroused Mr. Funk's 
temper, and he made his knock-down speech, which was pub- 
lished immediately all over the country. The following is the 
speech as reported : 

"Mr. Speaker : I can sit in my seat no longer and see such 
boy's play going on. These men are trifling with the best in- 



584 OLD SETTLERS OF 

terests of the country. They should have asses' ears to set off 
their heads, or they are secessionists and traitors at heart. 

" I say that there are traitors and secessionists at heart in 
this Senate. Their actions prove it. Their speeches prove it. 
Their gibes and laughter and cheers here nightly, when their 
speakers get up in this hall and denounce the war and the ad- 
ministration, prove it. 

" I can sit here no longer, and not tell these traitors what I 
think of them. And while so telling them, I am responsible 
myself for what I say. I stand upon my own bottom. I am 
ready to meet any man on this floor, in any manner, from a pin's 
point to the mouth of a cannon, upon this charge against these 
traitors. [Tremendous applause from the galleries]. I am an 
old man of sixty-live. I came to Illinois a poor boy. I have 
made a little something for myself and family. I pay $3,000 a 
year in taxes. I am willing to pay $6,000, aye, $12,000. [Great 
cheering, the old gentleman bringing down his fist upon his desk 
with a blow that would knock down a bullock, and causing the 
inkstand to bound a half dozen inches in the air]; aye, I am 
willing to pay my whole fortune, and then give my life to save 
my country from these traitors that are seeking to destroy it. 
[Tremendous cheers and applause, which the speaker could not 
subdue]. 

"Mr. Speaker, you must please excuse me. I could not sit 
longer in ray seat and calmly listen to these traitors. My heart, 
that feels for my poor country, would not let me. My heart that 
cries out for the lives of our brave volunteers in the field, that 
these traitors at home are destroying by thousands, would not 
let me. My heart that bleeds for the widows and orphans at 
home, would not let me. Yes, these villains and traitors and 
secessionists in this Senate [striking his clenched fist on the desk 
with a blow that raade the house ring again] are killing my neigh- 
bors' boys, now fighting in the field. I dare to tell this to these 
traitors, to their faces, and that I am responsible for what I say 
to one or all of them. [Cheers.] Let them come on, right here. 
I am sixty-five years old, and I have made up my mind to risk 
my life right here, on this floor, for my country. 

" These men sneered at Col. Mack, a day or two ago. He is 
a little man ; but I am a large man. I am ready to meet any of 



m'lean county. 585 

them in place of Col. Muck. I am large enough for them, and 
I hold myself ready for them now, and at any time. [Cheers 
from the galleries.] 

" Mr. Speaker, these traitors on this floor should he provided 
with hempen collars. They deserve them. They deserve them. 
They deserve hanging, I say. [Raising his voice and violently 
striking the desk.] The country would be better off to swing 
them up. I go for hanging them, and I dare to tell them so, 
right here, to their traitors' faces. Traitors should be hung. It 
would be the salvation of the country, to hang them. For that 
reason I would rejoice at it. [Tremendous cheering.] 

"Mr. Speaker: I beg pardon of the gentlemen in the Senate 
who are not traitors, but true, loyal men, for what I have said. 
I only intend it and mean it for secessionists at heart. They are 
here, in this Senate. I see them joke, and smirk, and grin at a 
true Union man. But I defy them. I stand here ready for them 
and dare them to come on. [Great cheering.] What man with 
the heart of a patriot could stand this treason any longer ? I 
have stood it long enough. I will stand it no longer. [Cheers.] 
I denounce these men and their aiders and abettors as rank trai- 
tors and secessionists. Hell itself could not spew out a more 
traitorous crew than some of the men who disgrace this legisla- 
ture, this state and this country. For myself, I protest against 
and denounce their treasonable acts. I have voted against their 
measures. I will do so to the end. I will denounce them as 
long as God gives me breath. And I am ready to meet the trai- 
tors themselves here or anywhere, and fight them to the death. 
[Prolonged cheers and shouts.] 

" I said I paid three thousand dollars a year taxes. I do not 
say it to brag of it. It is my duty — yes, Mr. Speaker, my privi- 
lege to do it. But some of the traitors here, who are working 
night and day to get their miserable little bills and claims 
through the legislature, to take money out of the pockets of the 
people, are talking about high taxes. They are hypocrites, as 
well as traitors. I heard some of them talking about high taxes 
in this way, who do not pay five dollars to support the govern- 
ment. I denounce them as hypocrites as well as traitors. 
[Cheers.] 



586 OLD SETTLERS OF 

" The reason that they pretend to be afraid of high taxes is, 
that they do not want to vote money for the relief of the soldiers. 
They want also to embarrass the government and stop the war. 
They want to aid the secessionists to conquer our boys in the 
field. They care about taxes ? They are picayune men any 
how. They pay no taxes at all, and never did, and never hope 
to, unless they can manage to plunder the government. [Cheers.] 
This is an excuse of traitors. 

•' Mr. Speaker : Excuse me. I feel for my country in this 
her hour of danger ; I feel for her from the tips of my toes to 
the ends of my hair. That is the reason that I speak as I do. 
I cannot help it. I am bound to tell these men to their teeth 
what they are, and what the people, the true loyal people, think 
of them. 

" Mr. Speaker : I have said my say. I am no speaker. This 
is the only speech I have made ; and I do not know that it de- 
serves to be called a speech. I could not sit still any longer, 
and see these scoundrels and traitors work out their selfish 
schemes to destroy the Union. They have my sentiments. Let 
them one and all make the most of them. I am ready to back 
up all I say, and I repeat it, to meet these traitors in any manner 
they may choose, from a pin's point to the mouth of a cannon." 

The legislature was sometimes a little more sharp than honest, 
and it is refreshing to hear the opinion of an honest farmer 
spoken boldly and fearlessly, with regard to some of its acts and 
doings. The following is "Senator Funk's protest against the 
bill providing for the payment of the salaries of officers in gold, 
delivered in the Senate of the State, January 14th, 1865" : 

Mr. Funk said : I would like to have an opportunity to make 
an inquiry, and then to explain my position. 

Leave being given, the Honorable Senator proceeded as fol- 
lows : 

Was there a bill passed on Thursday last, respecting the pay 
of members of the legislature being made in gold ? 

The speaker : Yes sir. 

Mr. Funk : Those lawyers understand these awkward words, 
and can sift them out, and arrange them, and comprehend them 
better than I can. But I want to inquire whether it has ever 
been the practice for a member who does not have his vote re- 



M*LEAN COUNTY. 587 

corded either for or against a measure, in consequence of his 
absence, to have that vote recorded, when it does not alter the 
result ? 

The Speaker : The Senator cannot alter the vote, but he can 
have it recorded on the journal, if another member will join him 
in requesting it, 

Mr. Funk : I would like to have mine entered on the journal. 

Mr. Ward : I second the request of the senator, and will join 
him, so that there may be two names. 

Mr. Funk : I am opposed to that measure. I oppose it on 
principle. I think that we were sent here to legislate ; to set 
good examples ; to correct errors and wrongs ; to do justice to 
the community, and to ourselves also. Now, if a law had been 
passed to pay all debts in gold, I would not say much about it ; 
but when this honorable body passed a law to pay itself in gold, 
I think it is setting a very poor example. Xot but what they de- 
serve more pay than they get, but what they get is no object to 
any member here, I am sure. The little, pitiful sum that any 
man gets who represents the State of Illinois in the General 
Assembly, every one of us ought to disdain to stoop down and 
pick up in the road. Now, for my own part, I am willing to re- 
ceive my pay as a senator, just as they pay me at home for my 
cattle and my hogs, my wheat and my corn. My hired men I 
pay in common currency, and I do not think we are any better 
than the laboring man. I think that the labor of ourselves 
should be paid in the same kind of money that pays for other 
things. Now, if this becomes a law, it will come up from the 
ostler and the hired men in this State, and will they will say to 
us, "Why, my dear sir, you voted yourselves pay in gold, won't 
you give it to us ?" What kind of a position will that be ? I 
would rather go without a cent than have my pay in that way. I 
object to it on principle. I do not mean to insinuate anything 
against any man, but I do think that men have voted without 
thinking upon the evil consequences. Xot but that there are 
men here who can tell as much in a few minutes as I expect to 
speak in all my life, but when I say "yes," I mean "yes," and 
when I say "no," I mean "no." It is the most outrageous thing 
I ever heard of, and I want it branded upon my forehead in 
letters as big as the moon, that I am against it, and shall ever be 
against it." 



588 OLD SETTLERS OF 

R was not until 1864, when Mr. Funk had become very 
wealthy, that he built his large house, the homestead of the fam- 
ily at Funk's Grove. He did not live long to enjoy it, and only 
slept in it twice previous to his death. The circumstances of his 
death are as follows : He came from his attendance at the legis- 
lature at Springfield on Saturday, January 21, 1865, to his residence 
at Funk's Grove. On the following day his health seemed poor- 
ly, and on Monday he came to Bloomington, where he was taken 
sick abed at the residence of his son Duncan. His disease was 
erysipelas, and he was also affected with diptheria. On Wednes- 
day his wife came to see him and was taken sick the following 
day, because of anxiety for her husband. They both had all the 
care and attention which medical skill could give ; but all was 
unavailing. Mr. Funk died at five o'clock on Sunday morning 
the twenty-ninth day of January, 1865, and Mrs. Funk died at 
about nine o'clock. They were both buried at Funk's Grove in 
a burying ground selected by Mr. Funk's father. 

Mr. Funk was about five feet ten and one-half inches in height 
and weighed about two hundred pounds. He had keen, black 
eyes, which were very expressive, especially when aroused. His 
hair was jet black and curly, but had become gray at the time of 
his death. His nose was rather prominent and somewhat Roman. 
His forehead was full but retreating, showing a very practical 
turn of mind. He was very quick and loud spoken and was ex- 
ceedingly independent. He had a great deal of push and drive 
about him ; indeed, his energy was wonderful. He was very quick 
tempered, but his anger did not last long. He was good-humored 
and appreciated a joke as well as any one. He was very accom- 
modating as a neighbor, but would stand no imposition from any- 
one. He loved his brothers and his family, all of his relatives ; 
and indeed the family has always been remarkable for the entire 
absence of any quarrelsome disposition. The tender affection 
existing between Isaac Funk and his brother Absalom was in- 
deed remarkable. The latter never had any children, and all of 
his fatherly feeling seemed lavished upon the children of his 
brother. Isaac Funk never made any will. At his death his 
property was divided by his children among themselves, without 
any difficulty, and without any administration, or the interven- 
tion of any outside parties. 



« 
m'lean county. 589 

Since the death of Mr. Funk his family have subscribed ten 
thousand dollars to endow the Isaac Funk Professorship of Agri- 
culture at the Wesleyan University, which is a fine testimonial 
to the worth of their father. 

There are in the Funk family nine children living and one 
dead. 

George W. Funk, the eldest, was born on the fourteenth of 
May, 1827. He is about five feet ten and a half inches high, 
heavy set, broad-shouldered, weighs about two hundred pounds, 
rather full, though slightly retreating forehead, gray eyes, coal 
black hair, well-formed nose, rather prominent and a little Roman 
(all the Funk noses are alike), an active man, good business ca- 
pacity, very cautious, perhaps a little too much so, and not very 
talkative. He was married, but his wife is now dead; he has 
one child living. He resides at Funk's Grove, about fifteen miles 
from Bloomington. He lived at home until the death of his 
father, and for ten years before that time attended to his father's 
business. 

Adam Funk was born on the twenty-seventh of August, 1828, 
and died at the age of nineteen in 1847. He was full six feet 
high, a little round-shouldered, and had black hair and dark eyes. 
He was a remarkably promising young man. 

Jacob Funk was born on the seventh of April, 1830. He is 
about five feet and ten or ten and a half inches high ; his hair 
is dark, and his eyes are grayish; he is a little round-shouldered, 
weighs one hundred and eighty pounds, is a good business man, 
a stock-raiser and farmer, lives at Funk's Grove, is married, and 
has a family of three promising children. 

Duncan McArthur Funk was born on the first of June, 1832. 
He is five feet and nine and a half inches high, weighs one hun- 
dred and sixty pounds, has black hair, the Funk nose, gray eyes, 
prominent cheek-bones, has first-rate business capacity, (this is 
characteristic of all the Funks,) is a farmer and stock-raiser, lives 
in Bloomington, is married and has a family of two fine chil- 
dren . 

Marcpiis De Lafayette Funk was born on the twentieth of 
January, 1834. He is six feet in height, has dark hair and dark 
eyes, is straight built, weighs from one hundred and eighty-five 
to one hundred and ninety pounds, has the best improved farm 



590 



OLD SETTLERS OF 



for the size in McLean County, and raises some of the finest 
stock. lie is married and has had two children, one of whom is 
living. 

Francis Marion Funk was born on the thirteenth of August, 
1836. He is about five feet eight and a half inches high, small 
bones, weighs one hundred and forty pounds, has dark hair and 
dark eyes, has all the marks and traits of character for which the 
Funks are distinguished, including good business capacity and 
the Funk nose ! He is married and has two children. 

Benjamin Franklin Funk was born on the seventeenth of 
October, 1837. He is six feet in height, has dark hair and eyes, 
is straight and well proportioned, is a man of good judgment, 
served for a while in the army, has been four times chosen mayor 
of Bloomington, the three last times without opposition, and fills the 
position with credit to the city. He is married and has one child. 

Absalom Funk was born on the third of March, 1842. He is 
about five feet and ten inches high, weighs one hundred and 
sixty pounds, is straight built, served for a while in the army, is 
a good business man, of course, is married and lives in Bloom- 
ington. 

Isaac Funk, jr., was born on the thirteenth of May, 1844. He 
is the youngest son. He is five feet ten and one half inches in 
height, is straight built, has dark hair and eyes, served for a while 
in the army, is married and has two children, is a farmer, and 
lives on the homestead at Funk's Grove. 

Sarah Funk, now Mrs. Kerrick, was born on the fourteenth of 
May, 1846. She is the only daughter. She is married to Hon. 
L. H. Kerrick, lately a member of the legislature. 

The family of Isaac Funk is, indeed, a happy one ; happy in 
the affection which each of its members have for the others ; and 
the}* form a monument to the worth of their father more beauti- 
ful and more enduring than can be chiseled from marble. 

Robert Peoples Funk. 

Robert P. Funk was born November 14, 1805, in Clark Coun- 
ty, Kentucky. When he was two years old the family moved to 
Fayette County, Ohio. Two of his brothers, John and Jacob 
Funk, were soldiers in the war of 1812. The Funk family farmed 
and raised stock in Ohio and hunted bear, deer, panthers, wolves, 



m'lean county. 591 

coons and foxes. They often had great fun with bears, when the 
latter were tackled by dogs. The unfortunate dog, that fell into the 
clutches of a wounded bear, was squeezed to death. The dogs 
worried the bears by taking hold of their hindquarters, and when 
the bears turned, the dogs let loose. Mr. Funk has often hunted 
deer and greatly enjoyed the sport, He has seen deer with their 
antlers locked together and unable to loosen themselves. The 
first deer he killed were fastened together in this way. He has 
had some lively adventures with deer. He once caught a wounded 
buck in a creek, and partly cut its throat with his knife, when 
the lively animal knocked the knife from his hand and tore the 
clothes nearly off from him; but he succeeded in drowning it in 
the creek. This incident happened after he came to Funk's Grove. 
Mr. Funk has often chased wolves with hounds, but the wolves 
were so large and strong that the dogs could make no fight, The 
hunters killed the wolves after the dogs ran them down. Mr. Funk 
chased the first wolf he killed about twenty-five miles. He has 
often hunted coons, going after them in the night-time, during 
summer, and in the day-time during winter. They keep pretty 
close in their quarters during winter, but occasionally come out 
to look around. The foxes were hunted with hounds and would 
play the most cunning tricks to elude pursuit. They would walk 
out on a fallen tree and jump from a limb and the hounds would 
be puzzled for a long time in finding the trail, and the foxes in 
the mean while would be running at the top of their speed. When 
foxes are pressed very hard in the race, they take refuge in holes 
and, when caught, make a hard fight. It requires a very good 
dog to master one of them. Foxes are proverbially cunning in 
their depredations. Mr. Funk once watched a fox, as it stole a 
goose. It came up a short distance very styly, then stopped and 
looked around, then came closer and made another halt, and in 
this way approached and at last jumped up quickly, grabbed a 
goose and ran without looking to the right or left, 

Mr. Funk came to what is now McLean County, Illinois, in 
the fall of 1824 with his brother Jesse and their father Adam 
Funk. Robert lived three years with his brother Isaac and then 
went with a team to the mining country, where he hauled mine- 
ral. There he succeeded well. The mining country was the 
abode of the hardest characters, and sometimes the party to which 



592 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Funk belonged had trouble. The miners would fight with 
any thing they could lay their hands on, clubs, stones, guns, fry- 
ing pans, skillets, in fact anything, which could be handled. But 
it was very seldom, that any shooting was done. At one time 
Jacob Funk sold beef to some miners on credit and they refused 
to pay. After a little talk he threatened to whip a few of them. 
They said that was what they wanted, and they grasped their 
clubs and skillets and attacked him and his party and tried to 
clear the room. But the ceiling of the house, where they were 
having the difficulty, was low, and when they attempted to strike 
with their skillets, they hit the wall above and soon found them- 
selves badly whipped. On the following day they asked for a 
pitched battle, but at last concluded to pay the bill and let the 
matter drop. Robert Funk often went back and forth from 
Funk's Grove to Galena with droves of swine for his brothers 
Isaac, Absalom and Jesse. In December, 1830, Robert Funk 
went with Jesse Funk, James Burlinson and two others to take a 
drove of swine belonging to Jesse Funk, to Galena. When they 
crossed the Illinois River, some of the pigs collected together in 
a huddle and broke through the ice and were drowned. They 
went on past Crow Creek timber to Smith's Grove, thence on to 
Inlet Creek and a mile beyond. But it was now intensely cold 
and the snow was deep, as this was the celebrated winter of the 
deep snow. The party had no shelter and left the pigs in some 
slough grass and started back to Smith's Grove. They had diffi- 
culty in finding the road, and on account of the hitter cold some 
proposed to kill a horse and put their feet into it to keep from 
freezing, and it was suggested that they draw lots to decide 
whose horse should be killed. But this idea was abandoned. 
Late at night they found a home at Smith's Grove. The next 
day they went to Rock River and crossed at Ogee's Ferry, where 
Dixon now stands, and remained there two days. Then they went 
to what was called "White Oak Grove and stayed three days. 
While there, a man came to them with an ox-load of corn from 
Ogee's Ferry, and after delivering the corn started back; but he 
became so cold that he unyoked his oxen and went to the ferry 
on foot. His feet were severely frozen and his oxen were frozen 
to death. When Jesse Funk and his party started out from 
White Oak Grove to go to Burr Oak, he hired a man, named 



m'lean county. 593 

Gratiot, to go ahead and break the road with his wagon. The 

latter did so for a short distance, but lie hecamesocold, that he put 
the whip to Ins horses and went on in a hurry. The snow drifted 
in the track and covered it up, and the party did not arrive at 
Burr Oak Grove until late. While on this day's journey, one of 
the men in the party was about to freeze to death, when Jesse 
Funk threatened to thrash him and made him run around and 
get warm. This was a terrible day's journey and many of the 
hogs were frozen to death. They would put their long snouts 
in the snow and squeal and freeze and fall over dead; and before 
the party could go fifty steps from them the wolves would be on 
them eating them up. Sometimes the wolves would begin eating 
the hogs before the latter were fairly dead. About fifty hogs 
were left eight miles south of Burr Oak Grove, as they had their 
eyes frozen up. At Burr Oak Grove the swine received a feed 
of blue Indian corn, for which Jesse Funk paid one dollar and a 
half per bushel. They started away from Burr Oak Grove to 
Apple River, and again Mr. Gratiot was hired to break the way 
with his wagon. He started out and again ran away from the 
party, leaving them with the cold wind and the snow drifts on 
the prairie. They went to Apple River and there found a man 
severely frozen, who said his partner was out in the snow frozen 
to death. Search was made for the missing man and he was 
found dead and stiff. The party went on to "Wildcat Creek and 
sold forty of the pigs and then traveled to Galena. Here the 
hogs were butchered and sold out. At the commencement of 
the journey they weighed from two hundred and fifty to three hun- 
dred pounds, but on their arrival at Galena, after a journey of forty- 
five days, they weighed from one hundred and fifty to one hun- 
dred and eighty pounds each. 

Jesse and Robert Funk started home. When they arrived at 
Crow Creek they found a party, who were going through from 
Peoria to Galena in four sleighs, but who had broken dowm, 
while about two miles from Crow Creek. All of the party had 
walked in, except two women, and help was sent out for them. 
One was carried in for about half a mile on a sheet and Robert 
Funk carried her the remainder of the way on his horse ; he also 
carried the other woman some distance on his horse. They were 
both severely frozen, and the first one was not able to speak for 
38 



594 OLD SETTLERS OF 

eight hours. It was during this severe winter that Mr. Gratiot, 
the Indian agent, had a party of five men with twenty-one yoke 
of oxen drawing goods from Peoria to near Galena. Four of the 
men and all but three of the oxen were frozen to death. The 
goods remained for two or three weeks on the prairie before they 
could be brought in. 

During this same winter two men, who were traveling, came 
within two miles of Smith's Grove, which is south of Inlet Creek. 
There they became very cold and crawled under the snow to get 
warm. Soon they became very warm and comfortable, but the 
snow melted down on them and made them wet, and when they 
started for Smith's Grove, one of them froze to death. Jesse and 
Robert Funk came home without further adventure. 

The settlers were, in the early days, much troubled by wolves, 
which killed the sheep and little pigs ; but Robert Funk had a 
plucky merino ram, which would drive off the wolves and protect 
the flock. It was a very fine one, which had been brought from 
Ohio. Mr. Funk remembers particularly how this ram managed 
the fight, when the flock was attacked by a wolf. It ran out 
boldly at the wolf and kept it back until the flock retreated three 
or four hundred yards, when the ram also retreated and again 
faced about towards the wolf. This process was repeated until 
the flock was clear out of danger. But the ram kept up the fight 
until the wolf was worried out and panted for breath, and then 
the victorious ram frisked his heels and shook his tail triumphant- 
ly and went to the flock. 

It was a great source of amusement for the settlers to chase 
wolves. The settlers around Funk's Grove were particularly 
troubled by a large gray wolf, which they chased many times, but 
could never catch. At last they got up a great chase and went after 
it. They started it near Funk's Grove and chased it to Kickapoo 
timber, thence to Randolph's Grove, thence to south end of 
Blooming Grove, thence down to Atlanta, thence up eighteen 
miles to Twin Grove, thence back to Short Point on the Kicka- 
poo, thence down below the present village of McLean, thence 
up towards Blooming Grove, where the long-winded wolf was 
caught. During this long chase the wolf kept the sloughs as 
much as possible, and when it did so, it gained on its pursuers. 
It ran on that day fully fifty miles, but was utterly broken down 
and could run no more. 



m'lean county. 595 

The settlers, while riding around the country, always expected 

to chase wolves. At one time, when Robert Funk went to make 
a visit, he caught a wolf and brought it in for the admiration of 
the good looking young lady, who afterwards became Mrs. Funk. 

The large gray wolves sometimes collected in packs and were 
dangerous. At one time a daughter of flames Murphy, about 
fiiteen years of age, when about two miles from home, was 
chased by a pack of eleven large gray wolves. She ran towards 
home ; but when within half a mile of the house, she was com- 
pelled to climb a tree. She hallooed to her father and the old 
gentleman came with his gun to her assistance. But the wolves 
refused to retreat, until he had shot down two or three of them. 
This happened about the year 1838. 

Robert Funk married, May 13, 1830, Virginia Springfield. 
He. has had eight children, of whom six are living. They are : 

Mrs. Nancy M. Ward, widow of Levi Ward, lives in Bloom- 
ington. 

Mrs. Sarah Jane Ward, wife of Xoah Ward, lives four miles 
northeast of Chene3 T 's Grove. 

William Funk lives about five miles northwest of Funk's 
Grove. 

Fanny Euphenia Funk lives at home with her father. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Temperance*Finner, wife of William Finner, 
lives about a mile northwest of her father's house. 

Tabitha Garmen Funk lives at home with her father at Funk's 
Grove. 

Robert Funk is about five feet and ten inches in height, is 
very muscular and tough, can endure heat, cold and fatigue, has 
an enormous head of hair, which shows his great vitality. He 
is kind-hearted, generous and hospitable, and has that quality, 
which is so marked a characteristic of the family, of which he is 
a member, that is — courage. He has seen some of the rougher 
phases of frontier life, but lives quietly and contentedly at his 
home in Funk's Grove. 



596 old settlers of 

Robert Stubblefield. 

The greater part of this sketch of Robert Stubblefield is taken 
from a memoir, written by the Rev. John Barger. 

"Robert Stubblefield was born November 23, 1793, in the 
county of Halifax, Virginia. He was the son of Edward Stubble- 
field, sen., who was the son of John Stubblefied, who, with two 
brothers, Edward and William, came from England. Edward 
Stubblefield, sen., the father of Robert Stubblefield, married Miss 
Lightfoot Munford, daughter of William Green Munford. His 
wife's maiden name was Ann Stanhope; their daughter, Mary 
Lightfoot, in the Revolutionary war, acted as private secretary to 
her father. Mr. Robert Stubblefield, the subject of this memoir, 
was therefore a grandson of Mr. William Green and Ann Munford. 
Mr. Munford was from England and served his adopted country 
as a colonel in the Revolutionary war. The colonel not only de- 
voted his personal energies, but loaned the government a large 
amount of his means (and he was wealthy) towards freeing his 
country from the Brittanic yoke. 

" This loan, in consequence of the loss of the papers by fire, 
was never recovered; but in virtue of a provision made by Con- 
gress for the compensation of the Revolutionary soldiers and offi- 
cers, Mrs. Mary Lightfoot Stubblefield, after the death of her 
father, Col. Munford, and being at the time his only surviving 
child, applied for and obtained a land warrant from the govern- 
ment for 6,666* acres of land. This warrant was laid on land in 
Ohio, which is now worth, perhaps, more than half a million of 
dollars, (the writer's supposition,) to which the heirs of Mr. Rob- 
ert Stubblefield, and those of his brother John Stubblefield, who 
have never received any portion thereof, are entitled, to say the 
least of it, to a pro rata interest therein with the other heirs of 
Col. Munford, who have, at least a part of them, shared the whole 
of it. 

"In his nineteenth year, at the first call for volunteers, Robert 
Stubblefield entered the service of his country, in the war of 1812. 
His company, consisting of ninety-six men, exclusive of officers, 
was stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, and all, except himself and one 
other soldier, soon died of the yellow fever, and he himself came 
very near dying of that fearful malady. He was regularly dis- 



m'lban county. 597 

charged, though by the death of his captain he failed to obtain 
his discharge papers; and by the authorities was conveyed to the 
place of his enlistment to die, as it was supposed, among his 
friends. By this removal and the attention of his friends, with 
the blessing of God, his life was preserved. His friends again 
removed him to the home of his brother Edward Stubbletield ; 
here he soon recovered his health, and his brother, having located 
land in Ohio, and wishing to see after it, and Robert desiring to 
see the country, accompanied him in 1812. lie married Miss 
Sarah Funk the 14th da}* of April, 1814, who died December 13, 
1821. She was the daughter of Adam Funk, and sister to Isaac, 
Jesse and Robert Funk, whose sketches appear in this volume. 
She died in Ohio. By this first marriage Mr. Stubbletield had 
four children : Absalom, Ann, Mary and John. 

On the 29th day of July, 1822, he married Miss Dorothy Funk, 
sister of his former wife. By this latter marriage Mr. Stubble- 
field had nine other children. They are : George Maley, Jesse, 
Francis, Adam, Eve, Edward, Isaac, William Royal Chase and 
Charles Wesley, in all, thirteen children. Jesse, the sixth child 
of Mr. Stubbletield, was the first white child born in Funk's 
Grove. Adam died, returning from Memphis, whither he had 
gone to visit Isaac, his sick soldier brother, and to seek for him a 
furlough and bring him home." 

Robert Stubbletield came to Funk's Grove in December, 1824, 
and settled first in the north end. In 1825 he settled in the place, 
where he lived until his death. He went to farming immediately. 
He was a man of great powers of endurance and thought little 
of the very severe hardships to which the early settlers were sub- 
jected. In the spring of 1825 he went to Springfield for iron to 
make a plow and carried it home on horseback. His wheat was 
ground at Blooming Grove, on Ebenezer Rhodes' hand-mill,which 
was made in 1824. 

During the winter of the deep snow Robert Stubbletield and 
his brother John went to mill, and on their return were caught 
in the first great heavy snow fall and were unable to bring home 
their grist, but forced to throw their sacks of meal out in the snow 
and bury them for a few days; but they afterwards returned and 
brought the sacks home. 



598 OLD SETTLERS OF 

During the winter of 1831-32, Robert Stubblefield, with a 
number of others, were taking some pigs to Galena and were 
lost in the snow. The stage, which carried the mail, passed the 
party and went on to Gratiot's Grove and gave news of their 
coming to a man named Chambers. The latter tired guns as sig- 
nals and late at night the party came in. They went on to Galena 
after some delay and made beds in the snow to camp out at night. 
On their return from Galena they became lost once more, when 
Mr. Stubblefield gave the reins to his horse and the intelligent 
animal brought out his rider safely to Mr. Chambers' house. Mr. 
Stubblefield often drove stock of various kind to Chicago, Peo- 
ria and other points. During one winter, while driving a load of 
pork across Peoria Lake, the ice began to crack beneath. He 
hurried up his team and arrived at the shore just as the ice broke 
up. 

During the sudden change of the weather in December, 1836, 
Mr. Stubblefield was coming home from Peoria. "When the cold 
wind struck him he drove to a mill about three miles distant, but 
came near freezing to death before arriving there. He came home 
the next day, but could not cross Sugar Creek with his team, for 
the stream had overflowed and was half a mile wide and was a 
glare of ice, on which his horses could not stand. He went home 
on foot and returned with help, ran his wagon over on the ice, 
cut the ice and made it rough for his horses to walk and brought 
them across. His stock suffered severely and many of his pigs 
were frozen to death. 

Robert Stubblefield raised a large family of children, who, 
like their father, have all been remarkably successful in life. 
They are : 

Absalom Stubblefield, who lives in the north end of Funk's 
Grove. 

Mrs. Ann Lightner, who lives in Randolph's Grove. 

Mrs. Mary Ann Groves, wife of Esau Groves, lives three miles 
west of Funk's Grove in Mt. Hope. 

John Stubblefield lives in the northern edge of Funk's Grove. 

George Maley Stubblefield lives about two miles west of Funk's 
Grove in Mt. Hope township. 

Jesse Stubblefield lives a mile and a half west of Funk's Grove 
in Mt. Hope township. 



s 



m'lean county. 599 

Mrs. Frances Murphy, wife of William Murphy, lives about 
two miles west of Funk's Grove in Mt. Hope township. 

Adam Stubblefield died while on a visit to Isaac Stubblefield, 
when the latter was sick in the army. 

Eve Stubblefield lives at home with her mother. 

Edwasd Stubblefield lives three miles west of Funk's Grove 
in Mt. Hope township. 

Isaac Stubblefield lives two miles and a half west of Funk's 
Grove in Mt. Hope township. He was a soldier during the re- 
bellion. 

William Royal Chase Stubblefield lives two and one-half miles 
west of Funk's Grove in Mt. Hope township. 

Charles Wesley Stubblefield takes care of his mother at the 
old homestead. 

Robert Stubblefield died June 8, 1870, while talking to his 
son Jesse, sitting on the porch of his new house at Funk's 
Grove. He was full}' six feet in height, and was heavy in build', 
weighing about two hundred pounds. He was a very muscular 
and determined man and not afraid of anything. He was very 
successful in life, was one of the best and kindest of neighbors, 
and stood high in the confidence of the community. He was a 
very conscientious man, and decided in his religious opinions. 
He was scrupulously honest in all his transactions and had a thor- 
ough contempt for meanness and dishonesty in others. 

Absalom Stubblefield. 

Absalom Stubblefield, eldest son of Robert Stubblefield, was 
born November 27, 1815, in Fayette County, Ohio. In 1824 he 
came with the Stubblefield family to Funk's Grove, in what is 
now McLean County, Illinois. The family traveled with an ox- 
team, as w T as usual in those days. They came first to Randolph 
and afterwards to Blooming Grove, by mistake, then went to 
Funk's Grove. Mr. Stubblefield's first experience was a hard 
wrestle with a little Indian boy, a son of Jim Buck, one of the 
chiefs of the Kickapoos. The boys were of about the same age 
and size, but Absalom had the muscle and brought the little In- 
dian to the ground. This was at Blooming Grove, whither the 
family had gone, when it first came to McLean County, thinking 
it Funk's Grove, being misled by their directions. When they 



600 OLD SETTLERS OF 

saw their mistake they came to Funk's Grove. The only family 
then living at the latter grove was that of William Brock. Isaac 
and Absalom Funk were then living with Brock. The Stubble- 
field family arrived there December 18, 1824, and immediately 
began farming. When Absalom Stubblefield became old enough he 
hunted wolves, which he killed with a hickory club. The Ivicka- 
poo Indians were then plentier than game. Old Machina, the 
chief, was very friendly. During the war of 1812 he fought 
against the United States, as he was promised a great many ponies 
by the British, if he would whip the whites. In the war of 1812 
he led on his warriors to the fight, but saw them fearfully cut to 
pieces at Tippecanoe, and he received no compensation for his 
trouble or his losses, and he declared that he would never again 
fight against the whites. During the winter of the deep snow, 
Absalom Stubblefield went to mill ten miles distant on the Kicka- 
poo. He was obliged to break the way with horses, and as the 
horses on the lead became tired, those in the rear were put ahead 
to break the way. During this winter the horses and cattle were 
fed on a piece of ground, which was tramped over and over again, 
and the ice, where they stood, was not thawed until in June and 
Jul}-. In December, 1836, when the sudden change in the weather 
came, Mr. Stubblefield was at the house of Robert Funk, where 
had been snowballing. Suddenly the wind came cold from the 
west. Mr. Stubblefield mounted his horse and rode home, and 
on his arrival there, was frozen fast to his saddle, and was obliged 
to give himself a hard wrench to get loose. 

When Absalom Stubblefield was only nine or ten years old, 
he selected the place, where he determined to have his farm, and 
was advised by his grandfather to deal in stock, to raise calves 
and sell them, and when they became large, to buy his land. 
He made some money by splitting rails, then bought calves, 
raised and sold them, and earned fifty dollars, with which he 
entered forty acres of land. 

Mr. Stubblefield has had some experience with fires on the 
prairie, though he has always been well protected by Sugar Creek, 
as the forks are on the east and west. But he has often been 
called on to fio-ht fire for his neighbors. At the south end of 
Funk's Grove the settlers were unprotected, and those across the 
prairie on the Ivickapoo were also exposed to fire, and the settlers 



m'lean county. 601 

on each side were anxious to have it tired in the fall, when the 
wind was blowing away towards the other side of the prairie. 
When the wind blow from the south, the settlers on Kickapoo 
were likely to take advantage of it, and send the tire rolling up 
to Funk's Grove; but if it blew from the north, some one at 
Funk's Grove was likely to tire the prairie and send the fire over 
to " those fellows on Kickapoo. " 

The old settlers loved their practical jokes, and Mr. Stubble- 
field tells a good one, which was played upon a " fresh" young 
man, who wished to steal watermelons. James Biggs told the 
young man of the sight, and so aroused his imagination, that he 
determined to go after them. They were on the premises near 
where Mr. Delavan now lives. The young man went for them, 
and Biggs, who was secreted near by, watching the performance, 
fired a charge at him. The " fresh" young gentleman ran for 
home, but in his fright fell into a pond of water and lost his 
watch, but found his way out and reached home covered with 
mud. 

Mr. Stubblefield has led a hardy out-of-door life, and has be- 
come very well developed. He is six feet and one inch in height, 
and weighs two hundred and seventy-six pounds. He is very 
muscular, and in his youth practised wrestling, which was con- 
sidered by the early settlers the best of sport. He is exceedingly 
humorous, and never likes to see a joke spoiled for relation's 
sake. He has been a successful farmer, is very prompt to meet 
his obligations, and his word is as good as the best security. He 
has been married three times, and has always been happy in his 
domestic life. 

He married Miss Eliza Pearson, February 23, 1840. By this 
marriage he had six children, of whom four are living. They 
are : 

Mifflin H. Stubblefield lives in DeWitt County. 

Thomas T. Stubblefield lives five miles northwest of his 
father's. 

Jesse P. Stubblefield lives in Dale township. 

Robert W. Stubblefield lives at home. 

Mrs. Stubblefield died October 11, 1851. On the second of 
September, 1852, Mr. Stubblefield married Miss Alley Wilson, 



602 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of DeWitt County. By this marriage lie had six children, of 
whom five are living. They are : 

Asa, William J., Lafayette, Charlotte and Mary A. Stubble- 
field, all of whom live at home. Mrs. Alley Stubblefield died 
April 18, 1869. On the twenty-fourth of January, 1870, Mr. 
Stubblefield married Mrs. Campbell, widow of Mark Campbell 
of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. No children have been born 
by the latter marriage. She has three children : David, Mary 
Bell and William Wilson Campbell. 

John "Stubblefield. 

John Stubblefield, second son of Robert Stubblefield, was 
born June 4, 1820, in Fayette County, Ohio. The family came 
to Funk's Grove in December, 1824, as stated in other sketches. 

He remembers very clearly the Indians, and particularly recol- 
lects seeing the squaws dry the venison on sticks over coals of 
fire, in order to preserve it. He remembers many curious mat- 
ters of the early days, which are very uncommon with the changed 
condition of the country. He remembers the wild pea-vines, 
which once grew in the timber and bore a fruit, which he liked 
to eat, and which furnished food for horses and cattle in early 
spring time. The nettles were then thick, the grass on the prairie 
was high and its roots were strong and fibrous, making it very 
hard work indeed to break the ground. This difficultv was then 
far greater than it would be now, as the settlers were then obliged 
to use the old bar-shear plow, which was not a convenient imple- 
ment to turn the sod. The vegetation has changed with the com- 
ing of civilization, even where the ground has been left uncul- 
tivated. The horseweed, which the horses liked so well, is now 
never seen. The prairie grass is gone, and the fine blue grass 
takes its place. He remembers the deep snow, and how the people 
beat their corn in a mortar and sifted out the finest for bread and 
kept the coarsest for hominy. The settlers raised their own cotton 
and flax ; they pulled the flax, rotted it, broke it, worked off the shives 
with a wooden knife over a scutcheon board, and passed it through 
a coarse and a fine hackle. The flax was spun and woven, and 
the tow, which was hackled out was used for filling, and the fine 
flax was used for the warp. The fine flax made the best of thread; 
it was spun on a little wheel. The shirts made of flax were very 



m'lean county. 603 

strong. Sometimes shirts were made of cotton and flax mixed. 
Cotton could never be raised with advantage. The jeans was 
made of wool for tilling and cotton for warp. The pioneer chil- 
dren did not wear overcoats; but when they became large enough 
to go to mill, from ten to fifty or perhaps even a hundred miles 
distant, they had overcoats sometimes. The first overcoat was 
made in Buckles' Grove, and was all of w r ool. The cloth for 
overcoats was first woven, then fulled, then pressed, then colored 
drab or London "brown. These fulled overcoats would turn water 
almost as well as water proof. 

Mr. Stubblefield says, women Avorked hard in the early days, 
and he thinks it almost unaccountable, that they are unable now 
to do as much as formerly. They do no spinning, nor milking, 
nor weaving now, but they have a great many little notions and 
trinkets, which occupy their minds. 

Sugar Creek had more water in it forty years ago than now, 
and fish would run up. He lias often seen suckers and redhorse 
three feet long in the creek. He used to fish for them with a 
hook and line and with a gig, which is a little spear with three 
tines to it. It was great fun to spear them, particularly on the 
shoals, where they could be plainly seen. 

During the sudden change in December, 1836, much of the 
stock of the Stubblefields was out in the timber, and was frozen. 
The chickens froze on their perches, and many of the hogs, 
which were kept in the timber, died partly because of their piling 
up one on top of another, and partly because of the intense cold. 
Many of the hogs, which were not frozen to death, had their ears 
and tails frozen, and these useful and ornamental appendages 
afterwards dropped off. 

Mr. Stubblefield went to Pekin to do his trading, hauled his 
corn there, and there bought his pine lumber. He occasionally 
went to Chicago with wheat, bringing back salt. 

As Mr. George Stubblefield has told so many jokes in his 
sketch about others, Mr. John Stubblefield thinks it only fair that 
one or two «of George's peculiarities should be published. John 
Stubblefield says that George was a cunning youngster, and in 
his youthful days liked fishing much better than study. His 
health was subject to the most remarkable changes. In the 
morning, when it was time for children to go to school, young 



604 OLD SETTLERS OF 

George would become desperately sick with the headache, and 
would be obliged to stay at home, but in the evening he would be- 
come so well that he could take his pole and line and go fishing. 
In the morning at about nine o'clock the headache would return 
again with its usual intensity. Young George was a very inge- 
nious boy, and at one time taught a pet calf to act as a riding- 
horse. At one time, while displaying his horsemanship on the 
back of the calf, Absalom Stubblefield (the mischievous Ab.) 
twisted its tail. It jumped around, and George was thrown for- 
ward. He grasped the horns of the calf in terror, crying: "Oh, 
Lord, I'm killed ! I'm killed !" But no serious results followed. 

John Stubblefield is six feet in height, is rather slim, and likes 
fun as well as the rest of the Stubblefield family. He enjoys a 
practical joke and loves to tell it. He is a hard working man, 
has been remarkably successful as a farmer, and is very well to 
do in the world. He is pretty cautious in the management of his 
property, but exercises good judgment. 

He married, December 1, 1842, Ellisannah Houser. He lias 
had nine children, of whom eight are living. They are : 

Sarah Elizabeth, wife of William H. Rayburn, lives in Cass 
County, Illinois. 

David Robert Stubblefield, lives three miles north of his 
father's in Dale township. 

George "Washington, Francis Marion, Mary Frances, Henry 
Bascom, Simon Peter and John Wesley Stubblefield, all live at 
home. 



GRIDLEY. 

William Martin McCord. 

William Martin McCord, usually called Martin McCord, was 
born July 3, 1815, in Overton County, Tennessee. His father's 
name was William McCord, and his mother's name before her 
marriage was Jane McMurtrie. William McCord was* one-fourth 
Scotch and three-fourths Irish, and his wife Jane was one-fourth 
English and three-fourths Irish, and consequently Martin is one- 
eighth English, one-eighth Scotch and three-fourths Irish. This 
is going rather deeply into fractions, but there is nothing like 
precision ! 



m'lean county. 605 

William McCord was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, 
and was a farmer and blacksmith. During the war of 1812 he 
enlisted to tight against the Creeks, but was sick with the measles 
and participated in no active engagement. In 1827 he came to 
McLean County with Stephen Webb and George and Jacob Hin- 
shaw. The weather was wet and they were often water-bound, 
and sometimes obliged to cross rivers on rafts. Near Eel River 
they traveled twelve miles in water, which varied from six inches 
to three feet in depth. At last Webb and McCord came to Twin 
Grove, where they bought claims ; the Hinshaws having become 
separated and remaining for a while at Cheney's Grove. 

Martin McCord speaks particularly of the winter of the deep 
snow, as it was an era in the life of every settler, who experi- 
enced its severity. The season previous was a late one and frost 
was not severe enough to kill the tobacco sprouts until the second 
of December. On that day it rained and after the fall of a great 
deal of water the rain gave place to snow and at last it froze. 
The winter of the deep snow has been so often described, that it 
is not necessary to repeat the description here. 

In 1831 the McCord family moved to Panther Grove, in 
what is now Woodford County, about three and one half miles 
north of Secor, and there lived until the death of William Mc- 
Cord, which occurred June 13, 1852. William McCord was a 
man widely known and greatly respected, and was called by 
many of the settlers "Uncle Billy McCord." All of them speak 
of him in very high terms of praise. 

Martin McCord lived with his father until the age of twenty- 
two, when he worked, sometimes as a millwright and carpenter, 
but generally as a farmer. 

He married, October 29, 1840, Elizabeth Hinthorn. He lived, 
after his marriage, in various places, indeed was quite a traveler. 
At last, in the fall of 1870, he moved with his family to Newton 
County, Missouri, and bought railroad land and raised a crop, a 
very good one for that country. But the country was not blessed 
with a soil as rich as that of old McLean County. It had plenty 
of gravel, stone and clay, but the vegetable mould was wanting. 
The soil was open and porous, and a hard rain washed through 
it and would scarcely raise the water in a river. A moderate 
drouth would have destroyed the crops. Some of the land was 



606 OLD SETTLERS OF 

"spotted," that is, it had, scattered over it, alkali spots, varying 
in size from twenty feet square to ten acres. The spots were 
water-tight, and no moisture could go down or come up, and they 
caught the rain in puddles, and the cattle and pigs wallowed in 
them. For some reason these animals preferred the water on 
these alkali spots to the purest water in the river. Mr. McCord 
went down to Arkansas, but the prospect seemed as bad as in 
Missouri. The hills on both sides were white tlint rock, and in 
the distance appeared like snow. He found the people of Ar- 
kansas very pleasant and cordial in their greeting ; but they 
carried revolvers and held many old grudges, which came down 
from the war, and it was a word and a shot. They were hospita- 
ble, but ignorant. They never saw a corn-planter or a railroad, 
or a reaper. He saw one man, who was taking his boys up to 
see the "kyars" (cars). They speak of "kerrying" (carrying) the 
horse to water, and they "tote" water for themselves. When a 
stranger takes dinner with them they say very hospitably : 
"Retch out and hope yourself, stranger." Mr. Robinson McCord 
says he saw two men talking about a reaper, which they were 
viewing for the first time. One of them inquired what the reel 
was for. The other contemplated the machine for a while and 
then said, he "guessed that must be to knock the rust from the 
wheat !" 

The pigs of Arkansas were worse than the old Illinois "wind- 
splitters." Their noses seemed as long as their bodies, and Mr. 
Robinson McCord says that a person was obliged to look at them 
sideways to see them ! They could spring through a rail fence 
between the rails ! 

In the fall of 1871 Mr. McCord came back to old McLean 
County, and thinks he will now stay here. He has had nine 
children, of whom six are now living. They are : 

Mrs. Hannah Jane Farmer, wife of David T. Farmer, lives in 
Newton County, Missouri. 

William Isaac McCord lives in Jasper County, Missouri. 

James T., Henry Gaius, Washington Robinson and Mary 
Ellen McCord live at home with their father. 

Mr. McCord is five feet and eleven inches in height, has good 
health, is beginning to show the effect of age in the gray hairs, 
which make their appearance. He is a very straight and well- 



m'lean county. 607 

formed man, is intelligent in conversation, is humorous and good 
natured. 

John Boyd Messer. 

This is the sketch of a noted hunter, one whose life has been 
devoted to the business, and who has met with great success. 
John B. Messer was born August 4, 1807, in Lancaster County, 
Pennsylvania. His father's name was Isaac Messer, and his 
mother's maiden name was Sidney Ann Forbes. His father was 
of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, and his mother was of Irish. In 
the year 1811 the Messer family moved to Franklin County, 
Ohio. In the war of 1812 Isaac Messer was a soldier in the cav- 
alry during three campaigns. In about the year 1816 the family 
moved to Pickaway County, where the}- lived twelve years. It 
was here that young John Messer began to show that disposition 
for hunting, for which he was afterwards noted. When he was 
only fourteen years old, he was allowed to take his father's gun 
and cro hunting, as a reward for doing some work which had 
been assigned him. By good fortune he found a deer and fired 
at it. The deer sprang up, almost turned a somersault and fell 
with its head towards him. He came up to it cautiously and 
gave it another shot for safety, then crawled around in the rear 
of it and shook its lee; and was at last convinced that its soul had 
really gone to the green pastures never more to be troubled by 
hunters. He obtained help and had the deer brought home, and 
during the evening was the hero of a corn-husking, and told 
his story over and over again. 

In the year 1828 the Messer family came to Sugar Grove, 
Illinois. This was during the Jackson and Adams campaign. 
Jackson was very popular, indeed it seemed almost impossible to 
find an Adams man. He says that a crowd of men once divided 
by drawing a line. The Jackson men stepped on one side and 
the Adams men on the other. Only one man stood for Adams, 
and he said he took that course because his own name was 
Adams ! 

On the sixth of March, 1829, the Messer family came to near 
where Lexington now stands, and in what is now McLean Coun- 
ty. While he lived there the ruling passion came on him strong- 
ly, and he went to hunting. The two creeks down the Mackinaw 



608 OLD SETTLERS OF 

below Lexington were named by him. While out hunting he 
found some turkey tracks near the first creek and called it Turkey 
Creek, the name it bears to-day. He went two miles farther on 
and wounded a buck by another creek, to which he gave the 
name of Buck Creek, a name it still retains. He lived near the 
present village of Lexington about five years and then moved to 
the north of the Mackinaw, in the present township of Gridley, 
where he has resided ever since. 

Mr. Messer has had some lively adventures while hunting. 
At one time he went with a man, named Smith, up to the Blue 
Mound. There they followed the track of a deer out from a 
spring, where it had been drinking, and when coming to the 
prairie they saw it sitting on its haunches some distance away 
and looking around. After a while it laid down, and Messer and 
Smith walked to within sixteen steps of it, before it sprang up. 
Messer shot it and Smith shot another, which sprang up imme- 
diately afterwards. Messer made haste to cut his deer's throat, 
as he said it did not kick to suit him. He put his foot on one 
horn and his hand on the other and cut the throat. The deer 
sprang up instantly, and caught its antlers in the knees of Mes- 
ser's breeches and made two or three jumps with Messer dang- 
ling head downwards ; but it stumbled and fell and bled to death, 
Smith was so astonished, that he could only stand and look. The 
two deer had ten and nine prongs, respectively, on the beams of 
their antlers, showing them to be ten and nine years of age. 

At one time Mr. Messer discovered the antlers of a deer in a 
pond and saw the nose. He fired, and the ball went up the nose 
and out at the eye ; but he was obliged to chase it ten miles, 
when it stopped at a spring to cool. He shot it several times 
from behind ; at last he came in front of it, but, instead of 
changing its course, it charged directly at him. A shot through 
the head ended its career. 

Hunters seem to be subject to queer freaks of fortune, which 
they always express by the word "luck," and Mr. Messer's was oc- 
casionally hard luck. He was once walking in the snow towards a 
deer, near Wolf Creek, and he pulled off his boots and walked 
through the snow in his stocking feet, in order to move silently. 
He killed a deer and hung it on a bush, and that was his good 
luck ; but his boots became so frozen that he could not put them 



m'lean county. 609 

on, and that was his hard luck. Ho saw more deer and had a 
fine opporiimity to kill them, and this was his good luck; but the 
stopper had fallen out of his powder horn, spilling all of his 
powder, and that was his hard luck. He killed no more and was 
qbliged to walk home through the snow in his stocking feet. 

The deer seem to have a good understanding, and, when 
chased by dogs and hunters, they know very well that the dogs 
are sent by the men behind. While Mr. Messer was once hunt- 
ing on Wolf Creek his dog brought down a wounded deer, but 
both dog and deer were nearly tired out, and they laid down and 
watched each other. Mr. Messer was incautiously coming up 
with his unloaded rifle, when the deer left the dog and sprang 
towards him. He dodged behind a sapling, and his dog grabbed 
the deer and held it until Messer could load and fire. 

Young hunters sometimes make very ludicrous blunders, and 
people are familiar with the story of a young man, who killed his 
neighbor's calf instead of a deer from the prairie. A youthful 
hunter once mistook Mr. Messer for a deer, as the latter was 
bending over a buck, which he had lately shot. The first intima- 
tion Messer received of this was the whizzing of a bullet. When 
the young hunter learned his mistake he was more frightened 
than Messer. 

About fourteen years ago Mr. Messer met with a misfortune, 
which came near terminating his adventurous career. While 
chasing a deer between Rook's Creek and the Mackinaw, his 
horse stepped into a badger's hole and Messer was violently 
thrown over its head, and lay stunned and senseless for perhaps 
two or three hours. When sense returned his horse and dogs 
were around him. He put on his saddle and rode to the nearest 
house, but was so sick, that he frequently became blind, and it was 
with the greatest difficulty that he clung to his horse. He received 
every attention at the house, and was rubbed with cayenne pepper 
and brandy, but was given up to die, as his pulse scarcely beat for 
three-quarters of an hour. But in order to receive the greatest 
benefit from brandy, this most delicious article should be taken 
internally ! Mr. Messer did so and revived. He feels the effect 
of the fall to-day, though it happened fourteen years ago. 

Mr. Messer made it a rule to kill his fifty deer in the fall of 
the year and during the fore part of the winter. After Christ- 
39 



610 OLD SETTLERS OF 

mas he only hunted occasionally, as the deer were not worth so 
much. 

During the Black Hawk war the settlers were subject to con- 
tinual fright, on account of the Indians, and Mr. Messer was 
sent out through Mackinaw timber to investigate matters, but 
could find no sign of redskins. It is to be feared that he some- 
times gave a few nervous gentlemen unnecessary fright. Old 
Johnny Patton made a yoke for his horses to prevent them from 
jumping the fence, and Messer persuaded a few soft gentlemen 
that the shavings were made by the Indians, who had been 
whittling ramrods for their guns. 

Mr. Messer married, July 5, 1832, Susannah Espy Patton. 
Their children are : 

Maria Jane Messer, who was born April 4, 1833, is married 
to Jasper Loving and lives about eighteen miles southeast of 
Decatur. 

Sidney Ann Messer was born September 27, 1834, is married 
to Aaron Misner and lives about a half mile southeast of her 
father's. 

John P. Messer was born March 11, 1836, and lives about a 
quarter of a mile west of his father's. 

Margaret Espy Messer was born December 3, 1837, is mar- 
ried to Lane Stewart and lives about eighteen miles southeast of 
Decatur. 

Isaac Messer was born November 30, 1839, and lives about a 
quarter of a mile south of his father's. 

Mary Messer was born October 8, 1841, is married to Thomas 
Bounds and lives a half mile west of her father's. 

James T. Messer was born July 16, 1843, and died of the 
cholera a few years since. 

Elizabeth Ellen Messer was born March 24, 1848, is married 
to William Stagner and lives four or five miles southeast of her 
father's in Money Creek township. 

Rebecca Adeline Messer was born June 30, 1851, is married 
to John Drake and lives about a mile south of Kappa in McLean 
County. 

John B. Messer is about five feet and nine inches high, has 
a clear, grayish blue eye, is good natured aud pleasant, has seen 
a great deal of hunting and can tell about it, is plucky and 



m'lean county. 611 

quick-sighted, is free and unconstrained, and loves to talk of old 
times. Phrenologists would say that he has large perceptions, 
has a full head of grayish hair. He is rather heavy set and is 
pretty strong. He is generous and hospitable, and whoever 
talks to him is immediately made to feel at home. 

John Sloan. 

John Sloan was born March 7, 1810, near Somerset, Pulaski 
County, Kentucky. His father's name was William Sloan and 
his mother's name before her marriage was Margaret Kinkaid. 
William Sloan was of Scotch-Irish descent. He was brought 
with his parents from Antrim County, Ireland, to Bath County, 
Virginia, when he was six weeks old. His wife Margaret was 
born in Pennsylvania, but was of German descent. In 1804 or 
'5 William Sloan emigrated to Kentucky, where John Sloan was 
born. Young John there grew up and went to school to his 
father, and assisted every Christmas day in turning the old gen- 
tleman out of the school-house, as was the custom in those davs. 
John Sloan also went to school to other teachers and always as- 
sisted in compelling the teacher to "stand treat" on Christmas 
day. But one of their teachers came near being too smart for 
them. They drew up a paper and signed it, insisting that the 
teacher should "stand treat" and the teacher signed it, "Attest: 
William Talford," and the meaning of the document then was 
that the scholars should pay for the treat, and the teacher was a 
witness to it! The scholars were very angry at the sell, and took 
possession of the school-room and compelled the teacher to 
"come to time," 

Mr. Sloan was raised a strict Presbyterian and was required 
to attend to all the religious exercises of the day. He often went 
to camp-meeting, and there saw those strange phenomena, the 
jerks. They were usually the result of religious excitement. 
He remembers particularly the excitement of one woman, whom 
he saw under the influence of the jerks. She threw her head 
back and forth until her hair cracked like a whip. She said she 
knew when the jerks were coming, and could prevent them only 
by leaving the congregation. Mr. Sloan has never known the 
jerks to be produced by anything but religious excitement at 
religious gatherings. 



612 OLD SETTLERS OF 

In those days it was the custom to drink whisky, but Mr. 
Sloan never did so except on one occasion. When he was a 
child ten years of age he went to see a militia company elect 
their captain, and the men gave him whisky and made him drunk 
for the fun of the thing. He was carried home insensible, and 
his mother watched over him all night until he became conscious. 
He has been a teetotaler ever since. 

At the age of eighteen Mr. Sloan joined the Methodist church, 
and has continued an active member ever since. He attended 
Sabbath-school regularly and was greatly interested in the cause. 
Sickness was the only cause for his absence from'Sabbath-school, 
class-meeting or prayer-meeting. 

In 1880 he went to Owen County, Indiana, on White River, 
and there went to farming. January 5, 1832, he married Polly 
Hart. In 1835 he came to Mackinaw timber, McLean County, 
Illinois, where he arrived November 25. The journey was a hard 
one, as the roads were muddy and no bridges were built across 
the streams. He often mired down, and once got into a pond 
where he stuck fast for a while and was obliged to take all of 
his things out on horseback. When he and his family arrived 
at the head of Mackinaw timber, they were cold and wet and 
the snow fell and everything was frozen. Then old Squire Thomp- 
son took them in and built up fires and dried their clothes and 
gave them a good supper, a warm bed and a nice breakfast and 
refused to accept pay for his services. When Mr. Sloan arrived, 
he possessed very little of this world's goods. He put up a house 
of poles, and he worked at whatever his hands could find to do. 
He was acquainted with everybody in that section of country, as 
he had a social disposition. In 1843 he was chosen constable 
and served four years. He often had some unpleasant and dan- 
gerous duties to perform, but succeeded well in his office. When 
his term of service as constable expired, he was chosen justice 
of the peace, but served only one year, as he determined to move 
to Wisconsin, where he lived four years and then moved to the 
northwestern part of Iowa. There he had no very remarkable 
adventure. Game was plenty, particularly elk. During the win- 
ter of 1853-4 the elk came down into the cornfields at night and 
went out before morning. He once went out hunting elk with 
a party of six besides himself, taking dogs and horses. Three 



m'lean county. 613 

of the company had three guns and the rest were armed with 
clubs, corn cutters and hatchets. They had a horse and sleigh 
to bring home their game. They found a drove of about fifty 
elk and immediately one of their party went around on the op- 
posite side of the drove, while the hunting party scattered out. 
The elk were frightened and ran in all directions. The hunters 
rode after the elk, shooting them, knocking them on the head 
with clubs and striking them on the back with corn-cutters and 
hatchets. The corn-cutter was the most effective weapon, as 
two or three strokes over the back of an elk, cutting the tendons, 
seldom failed to bring it down. Seven elk were killed, six by 
the men and one by the dogs. One of the elk, which had been 
struck by a corn-cutter, turned at bay. Mr. Sloan shot it, but 
it only shook its head, another shot was fired, when it again 
shook its head in a threatening manner. The sleigh soon came 
up and the elk made a charge at it. Three men in the sleigh 
beat it over the head with seat-boards and one man on horseback 
rode up and struck it over the back with his corn-cutter. The 
elk turned on the horseman and gave him a rake with its antlers, 
which tore his pants from the knee to the thigh; but before it 
could do further damage it was shot and killed. An elk is not a 
fast running animal. It can trot fast and keep up the gait all 
day; but, when pressed into a run, it soon tires out. It never 
fights until wounded, but then it sometimes fights most fiercely. 
Mr. Sloan remained in Iowa only one winter and then moved 
back to Wisconsin, where he lived one or two years. But at 
last he concluded that Mackinaw timber, McLean County, Illi- 
nois, was the best place for a human being to spend his days and 
he returned to his old abiding place. In 1858 the township of 
Gridley was organized and Mr. Sloan and Upton Cooms were 
chosen the first justices of the peace. The former has been jus- 
tice of the peace ever since. He has performed all the duties of 
his office with fidelity. He has during that time had only two 
cases appealed and two writs of certiorari. His decision was sus- 
tained in one of the cases appealed, and the other was dismissed 
for want of prosecution. The justice's decision was sustained 
relating to the two writs of certiorari During all the time he 
has been justice of the peace no one ever called for money, due 
him from the 'Squire, without receiving it. He has married a 



614 OLD SETTLERS OF 

good many of his neighbors. In 1848 or '49 he married James 
"Wilson to Margaret Ogden and has since married two of their 
children. 

On the 27th of August, 1862, Mr. Sloan enlisted in the Nine- 
ty-fourth Illinois Volunteers, Company E., commanded by Capt. 
John L. Routt. The regiment was commanded by Colonel 
Orme. Mr. Sloan was chosen orderly sergeant in Bloomington 
on the twenty-seventh day of August, 1862, when they were 
mustered into service. He became sick at Springfield, Missouri, 
and was utterly prostrated and on this account was discharged 
at New Orleans, February 7, 1864. 

Mr. Sloan has had five children. They are: 

William Henry Sloan lives in Mackinaw timber, about three 
miles south of his father's. 

Sarah Ann, wife of Darwin Phiuney, lives in southwestern 
Minnesota. 

James Milton Sloan lives about four miles northwest of his 
father's, and is teaching school. He was a soldier in the Thirty- 
third Illinois, Company E., commanded Iry Captain E. R. Roe, 
and afterwards by Captain E. J. Lewis. He was in many bat- 
tles, was at Cache, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, Spanish 
Fort, Fredericktown, Port Gibson, siege of Vicksburg, siege of 
Jackson and Fort Esperanza. 

John Nelson and Albert Owen Sloan live in Spencer, Owen 
County, Indiana. 

Mrs. Sloan died, and on the 14th of February, , John 

Sloan married Mrs. Susan Smith from Iowa. No children were 
born of this marriage. 

John Sloan is five feet and eight inches high, has blue eyes; 
his hair was once dark, but is now somewhat gray. He is full 
faced, has a sanguine complexion, long whiskers nearly white, 
weighs one hundred and eighty-five pounds, likes fun, is a good 
man, talkative, pleasant and hospitable. He is generous and has 
helped to build four Methodist churches and a great many school 
houses. 



m'lean county. 615 



Jonathan Coon. 



Jonathan Coon was born April 4, 1815, in Madison County, 
Ohio. His parentage is given in the succeeding sketch of his 
brother Isaiah. He tells an incident of his mother, which gives 
an idea of the condition of things in a new country. While a 
girl, living in New Virginia, she and her sister went out in the 
evening to hunt the cows, taking for protection a dog, belonging 
to the family. They remained until after dark in the moun- 
tains, and after a while their dog began barking in a hollow. 
They went there and found a panther in a tree top. After 
throwing stones at it for some time, one of the girls went for 
help to kill it, while the other remained to watch the game. 
Their father came to their assistance and shot the panther 
down. 

During the winter of 1823-24, the Coon family moved 
to Crawfordsville, Indiana, and settled within half a mile of the 
town. They lived there and in that vicinity until July 4, 1837, 
when they came to McLean County, Illinois. Crawfordsville 
was a small place, when the Coon family came to it. It had a 
store, a land office, a little hotel, a few dwellings and a little 
corn-cracker mill. For two years the breadstuffs, on which the 
people lived, were brought up Sugar Creek near by in a perogue 
or large poplar canoe about forty feet in length and three feet 
in width. At the end of that time the people had cleared enough 
timber to raise their own wheat for flour. The town grew, and 
in 1837 became a flourishing little place. 

Mr. Coon speaks of the animals of the early days and par- 
ticularly of the hedgehog, which was protected by quills, which 
bristled out on every side. These quills easily pierced whatever 
touched them, and they did not come out easily, but had a ten- 
dency to work in deeper and deeper. The domestic animals of 
those days were very different from those at the present time. 
The Poland-China hog could not have been raised with profit 
in the early days, as it could not have been driven to market. 
The settlers were obliged to raise the long-nosed, long-legged 
hogs, which could travel to market. They were called " prairie 
rooters" and " wind splitters," and various other names, which 
were suggested by the appearance of the animal. In Ohio and 



616 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Indiana they were collected by drovers and taken to Cincinnati, 
Baltimore and Philadelphia. 

Mr. Coon tells some wonderful snake stories of Indiana. He 
says, that two great dens of rattlesnakes, near Crawfordsville, 
were attacked and cleaned out, and that about a thousand snakes 
of different varieties were taken out of one den, and about thir- 
teen hundred were taken from another. It was considered a 
pretty good day for snakes. 

When Mr. Coon lived in Indiana he had many opportunities 
for exercising his muscle. People were obliged to clear the 
timber there to make their farms, and had " log rollings." The 
young men came from all parts of the country to roll together 
and burn the logs of trees, which had been chopped down for a 
clearing. The log rollers were divided into two parties, each 
with a captain, and the logs were also divided, and the two par- 
ties engaged in a race to see which could accomplish their work 
first. Mr. Coon says, " that was work such as young bucks now 
know nothing of." They also had husking bees when they 
gathered the corn, and at night would go coon hunting. The 
Coons were successful in catching coons, and in one fall slew 
eighty of their namesakes. 

The clothing in the early days was buckskin jeans and 
linsey-woolsey for winter, and flax and tow linen for summer. 
The most elegant suit, which a young pioneer could wear, was 
of buckskin dyed green. Mr. Coon relates an incident of a 
young gentleman, who started forth, arrayed in a suit of green 
buckskin, to visit a much admired young lady. He sat up with 
her pretty late, as was the custom in those days, and she gave 
him a place to sleep in the end of an unfinished log house, which 
had no door. While the young man was dreaming of the hand- 
some young woman, whom he so much admired, some hungry 
hounds came into the log house and captured the new buckskin 
pants and ate them up. He was obliged to borrow a pair next 
morning to return home. 

Mr. Coon describes the arrangements for ploughing in the 
early days. The plough was the barshear; the horse was at- 
tached to it by ropes, which looped over the single-tree and 
passed from there to the hames, to which they were fastened by 
being tied through auger holes. The hames were tied over a 



m'lean county. 617 

collar of corn husks. The backhand was leather or coarse tow- 
cloth, and the line was a single rope. 

While the Coon family lived in Indiana game was plenty and 
bears were sometimes found. Once while the Coons were out 
with a party after ginseng, they discovered a bear. They chased 
it until it was completely exhausted and laid down. One of the 
party then came up and killed it by striking it on the head with 
a mattock. 

In 1837 the Coon family came to Illinois and settled in Money 
Creek township, near Towanda. Jonathan Coon was a farmer 
and a mechanic. At that time the country began to be a little 
settled around the timber, but the wild animals were numerous 
and seemed to thrive well in the neighborhood of approaching 
civilization, and the settlers were obliged to be active in defend- 
ing their crops and stock. The wolves were easily killed, though 
not always easily caught. Mr. Coon speaks of killing one by 
striking it on the head with his boot, as he had no club or gun. 
He tells a strange incident of Major Dickason, while out making 
a survey. The Major in walking to set a stake took sight on a 
thistle, butin walking towards it was carried out of the true course. 
Mr. Coon called to him to make him notice his error. A close 
observation showed that the thistle, which he took for a sight, 
was moving off. It was the head of a wolf! The wild animals 
seemed to be very free, and often came near the dwellings of 
the settlers. The wolves were the most impudent and saucy in 
this respect, though some of the other wild animals were not at 
all bashful. At one time, while Mr. Coon was away from home, 
a panther passed his dwelling, and Mrs. Coon had an opportu- 
nity to study natural history all alone. She was not at all afraid, 
and afterwards described the doings of the animal very clearly. 
This was in 1843, when Mr. Coon lived between Mackinaw and 
Money Creek. Many animals, which are now found only in the 
extreme west, lived in this part of the country in the very early 
days. Mr. Coon has found the bones of buffalo and the horns 
of elk on the Mackinaw, but these animals seemed to scent the 
coming of civilized men from a long distance, and no living 
settler has ever seen buffalo or elk in McLean County, so far as 
the author can learn. 

"When the Coon family first came to McLean County the set- 



618 OLD SETTLERS OF 

tiers " neighbored from grove to grove," that is, the people liv- 
ing in adjoining groves, five, ten or twenty miles distant, were 
neighbors. The} 7 met together, whenever a preacher came to 
the neighborhood to give them a good old backwoods sermon. 
Rev. Ebenezer Rhodes preached about twice every summer in 
Dickason's dwelling on Money Creek, near Towanda. Mr. Coon 
sometimes went to hear preaching at "White Oak Grove, and 
formed the acquaintance of many valued friends, as the Bensons 
and Browns. 

It was an interesting question in the early days as to where 
the thriving towns would be located. Lexington, Pleasant Hill 
and Clarksville, were then little places rivaling each other in 
growth and importance. A store was once started in Lexington, 
afterwards moved to Clarksville and then to Pleasant Hill. But 
the Chicago and Alton Railroad settled the matter by passing 
through Lexington, the other places could not keep pace with a 
railroad town. The greater part of Lexington belonged to A. 
Gridley. Clarksville belonged to Samuel Clark and George and 
Marston Bartholomew, and Pleasant Hill belonged to Isaac 
Smalley. 

The earliest settlers came to McLean County from a wooded 
country, and did not understand the value of prairie land. It 
will scarcely be believed, but it is a fact, that many of them 
made their first farms by clearing timber in the groves, while 
the prairie was before them and needed no clearing ! Of course 
it was not easy work to break prairie, and it required usually 
six yoke of oxen, which drew a plow, which cut a furrow of 
eighteen inches, and sometimes two feet; but it was very easy 
compared with the labor of clearing timber. Mr. Coon was a 
farmer and mechanic. In 1840 he and Joe Benson built the first 
court-house in Pontiac, but Benson died before it was finished. 

In 1844, Mr. Coon commenced improving the place where he 
now lives. This place had first been selected by Squire Sloan, 
who was attracted by the fine spring of water, which never runs 
dry ; but Mr. Sloan thought the country would never be settled, 
and he moved away, but came back, and now lives near his old 
place. In 1862, Mr. Coon built the house where he now lives, 
and no one could wish for anj-thing more convenient and 
pleasant. 



m'lean county. 619 

Mr. Coon married, October 28, 1841, Nancy Mouser. She 
was born March 9, 1822, in Fayette County, Ohio. She died 
May 11, 1852. Mr. Coon married, July 27, 1854, Celina Bil- 
brey, daughter of Young and Amanda Bilbrey. She was born 
October 14, 1829, in McLean County, and died August 8, 1855. 
He has never had any children of his own, but he has taken care 
of two children, Mary E. and Nancy J. Young, who were placed 
by their mother, on her death-bed, under the charge of himself 
and his sister. Mr. Young, the father of the children, died the 
year after the decease of his wife, and Mr. Coon is now the 
guardian of the children. The parents of Mr. Coon lived with 
him from 1854 until their death. His sister Ruth keeps house 
for him. He is a member of the Christian Church, was baptized 
near Crawfordsville, Indiana, by Rev. Michael Combs. The 
Christian Church was organized on Money Creek, at the house 
of Young Bilbrey. The first elders were Isaac Hinthorn and 
Adam Coon, and, on the resignation of the latter, Jonathan 
Coon was elected to fill the vacancy. In 1860 he united with 
the Buck Creek congregation, as that was nearer to his house, 
and was chosen elder by them, and still holds that position. The 
present church on Buck Creek was built in 1858. 

Mr. Coon is about five feet and eight inches in height, is a 
very careful and honest man, and no doubt made a most excel- 
lent mechanic. He is a man who attends carefully and well to 
whatever is put under his charge, and as elder in the church he 
no doubt shows a great deal of watchcare. His health has been, 
for some time, very poor, and he has not been able to do much 
work since December, 1871. 

Isaiah Coon. 

Isaiah Coon was born July 21, 1813, in Madison County, Ohio. 
His father's name was Adam Coon, a Pennsylvania Dutchman, 
born December 1, 1782, and his mother's name before her mar- 
riage was Ellen Dickason, of English and Irish descent, born 
April 14, 1790. Adam Coon moved to Virginia at an early day, 
and from there to Ohio, where he was married in 1811 or '12. 
About that time he moved to Madison County, where Isaiah 
Coon was born. On Christmas day, 1823, the Coon family 
started for Indiana, and arrived near Crawfordsville in January, 



620 OLD SETTLERS OF 

1824. In 1836, Isaiah Coon came to McLean County, Illinois, 
and in April settled near where Towanda now is. The family 
came during the following year, starting July 4, and arriving 
July 12. They lived for two years near where Towanda now is, 
then two years near Clarksville, on the Mackinaw, in Money 
Creek township, and then moved to what is now Gridley town- 
ship, north of the Mackinaw. Here Adam Coon passed the 
remainder of his days, and died July 9, 1863, and his wife fol- 
lowed him on the 18th of November of the same year. Their 
home, for some time preceding their decease, was with Jonathan 
Coon. 

When Isaiah Coon came to the country his occupation was 
farming and splitting rails. For the latter he received fifty cents 
per hundred, and could split two hundred per day. He married, 
October 30, 1844, Maria Ogden, daughter of Jonathan Ogden, 
whose sketch appears in this volume. 

Mr. Coon has kept a record of the weather since his arrival 
and speaks of several notable phenomena. On the 13th of May, 
1858, occurred a great wind storm, which tore down timber 
along the Mackinaw, and unroofed and tore down many houses. 
It was not a whirling tornado, which passes along in a mo- 
ment, but a steady blow, which lasted for two hours and had 
a track seven miles wide. It blew in a northeasterly direction. 
The Coons lived in about the middle of the track of the storm, 
and the rain was so great that the creek by their house rose 
to their door-step, and the mud from the field above was washed 
down over their door-yard, covering it in some places six 
inches in depth. The cloud was green in color, and while the 
storm was raging, everything appeared green. Such a storm 
as this is very rare, and the author never before heard of one 
in the West, although the whirling tornadoes have been often 
spoken of. Mr. Coon also speaks of the great sleet storm of 
January 13, 1871, which weighed down the timber with ice, and 
broke down many trees. Mackinaw timber still shows the effect 
very plainly. 

It was very common for the early settlers to go on regular 
bee hunts, and they would frequently bring home large quanti- 
ties of honey. Mr. Coon went bee hunting during the fall after 
he came to the country, with Major Dickason and Richard Mc- 



m'lean county. 621 

Aferty. They went to Iowa, beyond the range of civilization, 
and at the end of six weeks returned with four barrels of the 
finest strained honey, and one hundred and fifty pounds of bees- 
wax. During the fall of the year following, he went with Jacob 
and Albert Dickason and Lewis Sowards to the sand ridges of 
the Kankakee, and at the end of five weeks returned with six 
barrels of strained honey and two hundred and forty pounds of 
beeswax. 

Mr. Coon has had six children altogether, of whom three 
are living. They are : 

Mrs. Isabel Robinson Tarman, wife of A. B. Tarraan, lives 
in Gridley township, about three and a half miles northeast of 
her father's. 

Mrs. Sarah Ellen Kearfott, wife of William Kearfott, lives 
about three and a half miles southeast of her father's, in Money 
Creek township. 

Clara Estelle, the pet, lives at home. 

Mr. Coon is five feet and ten inches in height, is strongly and 
squarely built, has a sanguine, hopeful disposition, gray eyes, a 
good head with what appears to be a good development of brain. 
He seems a very honest, kind and pleasant man. 

The following are the children of Adam and Eleanor Coon, 
the father of Isaiah : 

Isaiah, born July 21, 1813. 

Jonathan, born April 4, 1815. 

Ruth, born January 8, 1817. 

Michael, born April 5, 1819. 

Albert and Henry died in infancy. 

James S., born March 21, 1825. 

Nancy J. R., born February 22, 1827. 

Margaret W., born June 20, 1831. 

James Smith Coon. 

James S. Coon was born March 21, 1825, in Montgomery 
County, Indiana. (For his ancestry see sketch of Isaiah Coon). 
He lived there near Crawfordsville until the fourth of July, 1837, 
when he came to Illinois with the family, and lived for a while 
on Major Dickason's farm, near Towanda, McLean County. 
Afterwards they moved to Clarksville and then to Taylor Lov- 



622 OLD SETTLERS OF 

ing's place in Gridley township. There James began to do some 
of the hunting for which he afterwards became quite famous. 
He and his brother Michael set large steel traps for wolves, and 
in one season caught seventeen of these animals (the eighteenth 
left his toes), two or three badgers, one gray eagle and one white 
owl. A steel trap set for a wolf was never fastened immovably 
to the ground, but was tied to a heavy pole, which the wolf 
could usually drag for some distance. It would be likely to pull 
itself loose and leave only its toes, if the trap was immovable. 
Mr. Coon once caught a lively wolf, which pulled the trap loose 
from the pole and when he came up with it and tried to strike 
it with his horse's bridle, the lively animal grabbed the bridle 
in its teeth every time. He was obliged to bring on his dogs. 
Mr. Coon never considered the wolves dangerous, though they 
sometimes came very close to him while traveling in the night 
time, so close that he could hear the patter of their feet. 

In about the year 1843 Mr. Coon took claims north of the 
Mackinaw and James set out apple and peach trees. The latter 
began to bear fruit before the land was entered. He experienced 
great difficulty in protecting his first trees from the deer, during 
the latter part of October, when the velvet was shedding from 
their antlers. For the deer would rub their antlers against the 
trees to get rid of the velvet. 

Mr. Coon often hunted deer with horses and hounds, and 
thinks it the most exciting of sport. He once remembers a most 
exciting chase, which he and his brother Michael had after a 
buck. They started with two grayhounds, a black dog named 
Peter Logan (after a negro), and several other dogs of various 
kinds. They found a herd of deer about half a mile distant, 
and the grayhounds started on low ground. The deer did not 
observe the hounds until the latter were very close. The dogs 
singled out the leader, a large buck. The latter ran a short 
distance, when he turned for fight. It was a large and powerful 
buck and fought the hounds most savagely. It gored first one 
and then the other with its long antlers. The hunters came up 
but had no guns or clubs and could only look on. The buck 
would pin one dog to the ground, when the other would grab it; 
then it would pin the other to the ground, when the first one 
would take hold of it. At last Peter Logan, the black dog, 



m'lean county. 623 

came up and all three of them mastered the buck, and the hunt- 
ers finished it. One of the grayhounds was so terribly gored, 
that it had to be wrapped up, and carried home in a wagon. 
The other was gashed in the shoulder clear to the bone, but 
eould walk home. It was a plucky dog, and caught another 
deer on its return. The buck would have undoubtedly whipped 
the grayhounds and perhaps killed them both, if old P«Ster Lo- 
gan had not come to their assistance. 

When the Coon family lived near Clarksville, Adam Coon 
found the track of an unusual animal. It was a track as large 
as a man's fist and almost perfectly round. A party of men fol- 
lowed it up and found a lynx. The animal did not seem afraid, 
but trotted around carelessly, though it seemed a little anxious 
to keep out of the way of the hunter who carried the rifle. The 
men wished to see some fun and sent for a couple of dogs, and 
when the latter arrived, Michael Coon shot the lynx in the leg 
and breast, thinking to give the dogs an easier fight, but it died 
in a few moments and they missed the fun. While it was dying, 
one of the dogs grabbed it, but received a terrific blow from the 
paw of the lynx and was sent rolling. The paws of the lynx 
were round and fully as large as a good sized fist; its nails re- 
sembled the claws of a timber hawk, and were an inch and a half 
in length ; its legs were enormous in size, large, and with the 
heavy fur seemed fully as large as the leg of a stout man. 

Mr. Coon married, February 14, 1850, Maria Young, who 
came to Illinois while only a small child. In 1852 he and his 
wife moved to the place where they now live, north of the 
Mackinaw They have had three children, of whom two are 
living. They are : Ambrose Whitlock and Sarah Eleanor Coon, 
who both live at home. 

Mr. Coon is five feet and nine inches in height, is strong and 
possessed of a great deal of pluck. He is not very heavy, but 
muscular. He has brown hair and reddish whiskers. He seems 
born to succeed in the world, and has that leading characteristic 
of the family, straightforwardness in his transactions. He and 
his brother Michael were the two coon hunters. 



624 old settlers of 

George Washington Cox. 

George TV. Cox was born October 28, 1815, in Oxford Coun- 
ty, Maine, in the little town of Norway. His father, William 
Cox, was of Welch descent and his mother, whose maiden name 
was Elizabeth Phipps, was of English, but both were born in 
New Ifampshire. George W. Cox received his common school 
education in Maine. He served his apprenticeship at carding 
and cloth-making and followed his trade for awhile after coming 
to the West. He came to Illinois in 1837. He traveled by 
steamboat a greater part of the way, until he landed at Pekin, 
and there he continued his journey on foot to Bloomingtou. As 
he was unaccustomed to walking he was an invalid for a week 
afterwards. For five years he worked part of the time near 
Hudson on a farm, which he and his brother, Samuel Cox, opened 
up, and a part of the time at Bloomington as a cloth-dresser in 
Ort CovePs carding and cloth-dressing factor} 7 . Cloth was 
dressed by putting it on a cylinder and running the cards over 
it, and it was finely dressed by teasels or burrs, which were 
strung on a cylinder, or between slats running across the cyl- 
inder. 

Mr. Cox married, March 24, 1842, in Bloomington, Nancy 
Jane Loving, daughter of Taylor Loving, of Gridley township. 
She was born in Indiana, and was brought to Illinois at an early 
day. Mr. Cox lived on Taylor Loving's farm in Mackinaw tim- 
ber for two years, and in 1844 broke prairie at the place where 
he now lives, north of the Mackinaw in Gridley township. He 
has succeeded very well in raising stock, has had no particular ad- 
ventures, never was a hunter because hunting was not a paying 
business. He could buy meat cheaper than he could kill it. If 
he wanted venison he could purchase it of John Messer for a 
little more than the cost of the ammunition required to kill it. 
He is a man highly respected in his township ; he has been 
twice supervisor, indeed has held every township office, except 
justice of the peace and town clerk. 

Mary Jane Cox died February 16, 1863. Mr. Cox married, 
August 12, 1863, Mrs. Nancy Potter, widow of Joseph Potter, of 
Kappa. Her maiden name was Nancy Hall, and her birthplace 
is in Indiana. 



m'lean county. 625 

Mr. Cox has had five children in all, of whom four are now 
living. They are: 

James W. Cox, who lives a half mile east of his father's. 
He served in the army in the Normal regiment and was dis- 
charged, after two years' service, on account of sickness. 

Mrs. Mary Z. Bowers, wife of Wesley Bowers, lives in Ben- 
ton County, Indiana. 

Henry W. Cox lives in Benton County, Indiana, within half 
a mile of his sister, Mrs. Bowers. 

Charles Sumner Cox is deaf and dumb, and has for some 
time been an inmate of the asylum at Jacksonville. 

Mr. Cox is about five feet and nine inches in height, has a 
full head of hair, which was originally dark, has grayish blue 
eyes, a full beard, rather a thin face, is rather spare and has been 
much afflicted with rheumatism. He is good natured, hard 
working, hospitable and kind : a man of good business qualifi- 
cations, has succeeded well, takes care of what he possesses, has 
a fine farm and a fine house and everything appears neat and 
tidy, as the place of a New Englander should. 

The family, of which George W. Cox is a member, has been 
much scattered. There were fourteen children of them in the 
little town of Norway, where their father kept store, about forty 
miles from Portland. Two of the daughters are in Massachu- 
setts, one in New Hampshire and one in Bloomington, Illinois ; 
one son is at Troy, New York, two are in Maine, one at Hudson, 
Illinois, merchant and postmaster, one in Bloomington, and one, 
the subject of this sketch, in Gridley township, north of the 
Mackinaw. 



HUDSON. 

Young Bilbrey. 

Young Bilbrey was born May 21, 1801, in North Carolina. 
His father's name was Isam Bilbrey and his mother's maiden 
name was Rath Sellers. When Young was about seven years 
of age, the family moved to Matthew's Creek and there he 
lived until he came to Illinois. He married, August 12, 1826, 
Amanda Patrick, and Jauuarv 12, 1827, he started for Illinois 
40 



626 OLD SETTLERS OF 

with horses and oxen, with his wife, three brothers-in-law and 
one sister-in-law. They came first to Twin Grove, where they 
arrived February 12, and remained until April 16, when they 
moved to Panther Creek, in what is now Woodford County. 
At the latter place Mr. Bilbrey built a rail pen to live in. It 
was a ten-foot rail pen, with rails on three sides and the other 
side open. The roof was of clapboards. In this they lived 
three weeks and while there Mr. Bilbrey and his three brothers- 
in-law cleared ten acres of heavy timber and planted it in corn, 
and it yielded fifty bushels to the acre. After this clearing was 
made they moved to a log house near by, and the following year 
moved to another log house, which they had built in the mean- 
time on the north side of the east fork of Panther Creek. "While 
building that house, Mr. Bilbrey's brother-in-law, Winslow 
Patrick, was killed by a fall, and this was the first sad event 
they experienced. 

The fever and ague was a regular visitor in the West. Mrs. 
Bilbrey says that Stephen Webb, of Twin Grove, declared that 
no one but a lazy man could have the ague. But before long he 
took it himself, while splitting rails. He had a good shake, but 
insisted that it would be driven off" the next time by splitting 
rails. Again the ague came, harder than before, and Stephen 
mauled rails with all his might ; he shook and mauled and shook 
and mauled, but the fever and chills were at last so severe, that 
he stopped work, and he was forced to acknowledge that the 
ague was no respecter of persons. Some time afterwards he 
was out haying, and while coming home on the load he had the 
ague, and while crossing a creek his load upset and he was in- 
voluntarily baptized, and, strange to say, never had the ague 
again. Mrs. Bilbrey thinks the wagon was upset for the purpose 
of throwing Mr. Webb into the creek. 

During the winter of the deep snow the Bilbreys pounded 
their corn as everybody did. When the heavy snow-fall came, 
some men, who had come to mill from Pontiac, and were re- 
turning, were caught in the snow and stayed at Mr. Bilbrey's 
over night. They left their corn meal there and went home and 
afterwards returned with sleds and snow-shoes. One of them 
was near freezing to death, and gave up and wished to stop and 
die. His companion gave him encouraging words, but these 



m'lean county. 627 

seemed to be of little use and be was determined to die. At 
last his companion aroused him by saying: "I don't care if you 
die. You are of no account to your family anyhow, or to any 
one, and the best thing you can do is to freeze." The man thus 
addressed became very angry and aroused himself and walked 
through. 

The house of Mr. Bilbrey was used as a preaching place for 
many years, for the Christians and United Brethren. 

The clothing worn in the early days was jeans and linsey 
woolsey, and Mrs. Bilbrey thinks it would do no harm if this 
clothing was worn at the present day. She thinks the fashions 
of the present day are scandalous, and that it is an outrage for 
women to wear humps on their backs, and that they had better 
dress naturally, even if they wore linsey woolsey. She wishes 
this idea preserved with care in the hope that it may be a benefit 
to the rising generation. 

In 1836 the Bilbrey family moved to the east side of Money 
Creek, where they lived twenty-five years and then moved to 
the west side, where they lived until the death of Mr. Bilbrey, 
which occurred June 13, 1873, 

Mr. Bilbrey belonged to the Christian Church for about 
thirty-five years. He died without fear, and was conscious to the 
last. His business was all arranged and "his house set in order." 
Ten dollars would have paid every debt he owed. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bilbrey have had nine children, of whom six 
are living. The children are : 

•Jane, born October 14, 1829, married to Jonathan Coon, died 
August 8, 1856. 

Mary Ann, born January 8, 1832, married Rankin Armstrong 
and lives near Secor, Woodford County. 

Melinda, born December 17, 1833, married Lewis Smith, died 
August 9, 1861. 

William, born March 29, 1836, lives in Gibson, Ford County, 
Illinois. 

Ellen, born October 25, 1837, married Jacob Hinthorn and 
lives on the west side of Money Creek timber. 

Margaret was born March 16, 1839, and died May 3, 1864. 

Almira was born September 28, 1840, married William Hin- 
thorn, March 24, 1861, lives in Shelbina, Missouri. 



C28 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Allen, born October 28, 1841, lives on the south end of his 
father's farm. 

Eli, born October 5, 1845, lives on the southwest side of 
Money Creek timber. 

Mr. Bilbrey was rather a large man, weighed about two hun- 
dred and thirty pounds, was very muscular, worked hard, had an 
iron constitution, was a good man and strictly honest. He was 
very cool and fearless, when difficulties appeared in his way, and 
worked steadily and carefully to overcome them. He was sick 
for three weeks previous to his death with inflammation of the 
bowels and bilious fever. His funeral was a large one, the peo- 
ple coming from long distances to see the old pioneer laid in his 
last resting place. The funeral sermon was preached by Thomas 
D. Lyons, at the house of the deceased. 

Joseph Messer. 

Joseph Messer was the son of Isaac Messer, whose children 
are given at the close of this sketch. It has not been possible to 
obtain information sufficient to write a sketch of the old gentle- 
man, who was one of the earliest and most noted pioneers of 
McLean County. 

Joseph Messer was born September 5, 1825, in Pickaway 
County, Ohio, and came with the family to Mackinaw timber, in 
what is now McLean County, Illinois, where he arrived in March, 
1829. He has led quite an active life, and has done some hunt- 
ino- "off and on" for fifteen or sixteen years, and indeed 'this 
disposition to hunt is one of the leading characteristics of the fam- 
ily. He studied particularly into the nature of that most cunning 
and most interesting animal, the deer. He says that frequently they 
have their regular places to live and sometimes select them with 
great care and discretion. He remembers a large buck, which 
had a place to stay on the north of the Mackinaw, where it was 
protected in some measure by two ponds of w^ater. It could 
there see a long distance and had timely notice of the approach 
of hunters or wild animals. Mr. Messer determined to kill this 
deer, and crawled to it from a long distance and was obliged to 
crawl through a pond of water, which came over his back. But 
he held up his gun and went through, and was rewarded for his 
trouble by killing the deer. As the country became well settled, 



m'lban county. 629 

the game grew scarce and was not easily killed. The old hunters 
then practiced shooting deer on the run. Mr. Messer, while on 
horseback, once chased a deer, and as it was about to run into a 
thicket he shot it through the heart without slacking the pace of 
his horse. In one fall he killed eighteen deer, and only one was 
shot while standing. 

Mr. Messer married, March 17, 1853, Martha Locke. He has 
had eight children, all of whom are living. They are fine, 
healthy boys and girls, and he works hard to support them. He 
is live feet and ten inches in height, is not heavy set, has a nose 
with a good natured turn to it, and gray eyes with a very clear 
expression in them. He is a very pleasant man. 

The following are the children of Isaac Messer, the father of 
Joseph : 

John Messer, born August 4, 1807, lives north of the Macki- 
naw in Gridley township. His sketch appears in this work. 

Mary Messer, born January 4, 1811, married Joseph D. Gild- 
ersleeve and lives in Hudson township in the edge of Money 
Creek timber. 

Elizabeth Messer, born September 4, 1813, married Peter 
Spore and lives at Neosho Falls, Kansas. s 

Jane Messer, born September 9, 1815, married Isaac Turnip- 
seed and lives in Hudson township in the edge of Money Creek 
timber. 

Sidney Ann Messer, born April 19, 1819, married Madison 
Young, lived in Mackinaw timber and died many years since. 

Rebecca Messer, born October 30, 1821, married Calvin 
Doughty. She and her husband are both dead. 

Isaac Messer died in infancy. 

Joseph Messer, born September 5, 1825, lives in Hudson 
township in the edge of Money Creek timber. 

James K. Messer, born April 19 1828, died when eight years 
of age. 

Isaac Messer, born December 28, 1831, lives in Hudson town- 
ship in the edge of Money Creek timber. 

Jesse Havens. 

Jesse Havens was born June 23, 1781, near the mouth of 
Squawn River in New Jersey. His father came from Wales when 



630 OLD SETTLERS OF 

quite young. He was a sea captain and was shipwrecked and 
lost his life on the ocean by shipwreck. Jesse Havens came to 
Virginia, when only a boy and lived with a brother-in-law, named 
Newman. There he went bear-hunting and killed a great number. 
Mr. Newman made bear-hunting a business and Jesse Havens 
often went out with a company of hunters under Newman and 
stayed for three months at a time without seeing any human be- 
ings, except members of the company. -Jesse JIavens was an 
excellent marksman, and as the bear were thick, had every chance 
to exercise his skill. He sometimes took the dogs and went out 
hunting himself and occasionally had some unexpected adventures. 
At one time, while alone watching a deer-lick, he heard an ani- 
mal approaching, which proved to be a panther. It ran up a tree 
and seemed also to be on the watch for deer. Jesse took careful 
aim at it, fired and ran for home. The hunters returned with 
him to the spot and found the panther dead. At one time he had 
a dangerous adventure with a bear. He shot a bear which had 
been treed and it fell wounded, and hugged the dog, which had 
treed it. When Jesse came up, the bear and dog went rolling 
down a hill, but Jesse succeeded in killing the bear with his 
knife and tomahawk. Pie considered this a narrow escape. 

He went in 1801 to where Newark, Ohio, now is, and built 
several log cabins for a company which settled there. He mar- 
ried and moved eight miles north of that place and cleared out a 
small farm and ran a shop in which he made furniture, chairs, etc. 
Jesse Havens enlisted in the war of 1812 and was at the des- 
perate defence made by Major Croghan and his band of one hun- 
dred and sixty men, of Fort Stephenson on the Lower Sandusky. 
In the fall of 1829 Jesse Havens came to Illinois. He came 
first to Big Grove, near where Urbana now is, and from there 
went in search of a house and found one on the North Fork of 
the Sangamon, south of where Leroy now is. When he moved 
his family there, which was in December, 1829, the sleet troubled 
him very much, and he was obliged to walk many miles to obtain 
corn for food. He left the Sangamon and came to Buckles' Grove 
and from there he came to where Hudson now is, in January, 
1830. There he bought some claims, made improvements and 
went to farming, as did all the settlers in that section. 

In 1850 Jesse Havens sold out and went to Iowa, but after a 
few years returned to Havens' Grove. Here he lived two years 



m'lean county. C31 

with his son Hiram and tlien went back to Iowa, where he re- 
mained until the time of his death, which occurred December 2, 
1862. Just previous to his death he requested his son William 
to bury him in Havens' Grove, and this request was carried out. 
He was, at the time of his death, eighty-one years, five months 
and nine days old. 

He was married to Rebecca Hinthorn in Licking County, 
Ohio. He had eleven children, all of whom lived to become men 
and women. They are : 

Mrs. Elizabeth Piatt, wife of Hezekiah Piatt, died in North- 
ern Iowa. 

Mrs. Anna Smith, wife of John Smith, lives at Havens' Grove. 

Mrs. Dorcas Wheeler, wife of Benjamin Wheeler, lives at 
Havens' Grove. 

Mrs. Margaret Trimmer, wife of David Trimmer, died at 
Havens' Grove. 

John Havens lives at Ford County, Illinois, not far from 
Paxton. 

Hiram Havens lives at Havens' Grove. 

Jesse D. Havens lives in Lincoln, Illinois, on the Chicago & 
Alton Railroad. 

Rev. James Havens lives in Wisconsin. He is a Methodist 
minister and belongs to the Wisconsin Conference. 

Rev. Enoch Stephen Havens also is a Methodist minister be- 
longing to the Wisconsin Conference. 

Ired M. Havens died at Kappa, January 8, 1852, aged twenty- 
six } 7 ears, seven months and twenty-one days. He was buried at 
Havens' Grove. 

W. W. Havens lives in Xorthern Iowa. 

Jesse Havens was six feet in height, had heavy hair and eye- 
brows, and was very muscular. He was a good man and quite 
successful in life. He gave the name to Havens' Grove. He was 
one of the first Commissioners elected in McLean County after 
its organization. 

Hiram Havens. 

Hiram Havens was born March 29, 1817, in Licking County, 
Ohio. He worked for his father, Jesse Havens, in his younger 
days and broke prairie with an ox-team. He and his brother 



632 OLD SETTLERS OF 

John broke prairie together and together kept bachelor's hall. 
John usually brought up the oxen in the morning, while Hiram 
pounded the cornmeal for breakfast. They often killed deer, 
sometimes early enough in the morning to have venison for 
breakfast. In March, 1833, Hiram Havens went to More's mill 
on Panther Creek, in company with a man named Piatt. But on 
his return he found it impossible to cross the Mackinew. His 
companion, Piatt, managed to cross on the ice with a pole, in- 
tending to go home and return with something for Havens to 
eat, but on his return it was impossible to re-cross the Mackinaw, 
as it had risen to an enormous height. Havens was left to lay 
all night on an open sled, on the bank of the Mackinaw in a 
sleeting storm. But he fortunately had his feet protected by a 
big dog, which kept them warm. The wolves came unpleasantly 
near and seemed very anxious to make mutton of him. The 
next morning he rode eight miles in the storm on one of his 
horses, leading the other. He obtained some parched corn for 
breakfast, of a man named More, then rode two miles farther to 
a house where he was given some boiled corn and venison. He 
lived there sixteen days before he could re-cross the Mackinaw. 
He found that the crows and mice had eaten much of his flour, 
and possibly the wolves might have assisted in the matter. 

Hiram Havens was a good shot and pretty certain to bring- 
down his game. His father once treed a lynx, which is an im- 
mensely long-bodied animal, with spots or short stripes, and with 
legs which are short, thick and powerful. Hiram was called to 
shoot the animal, and put a bullet into its brain. It fell to the 
ground and an incautious dog came rather close, when the lynx 
gave it a blow with its paw, which sent the dog rolling senseless. 
The lynx died in a few moments. It measured six feet from tip 
to tip, but its tail was short. Its nails were two inches in length. 

The lynxes, as may be seen by the description, are ferocious 
animals, and have given rise to many stories. One of these Mas 
the story of the once celebrated Clem Oatman. It was said that 
Clem Oatman was once coming home from mill, when he saw 
one of these lynxes and killed it with a club and carried it on his 
horse, which was a very tall one. And it was said that this lynx 
dragged its head in the snow on one side and its hindquarters in 
the snow on the other, and in this manner the wonderful lynx 



m'lean county. 633 

was carried home. The news of Clem Oatman's lynx was car- 
ried over the country, and was told in every school house, church 
and grocery. So far as the truth of this story is concerned, the 
reader can believe as much or as little as he chooses. If he 
wishes to cultivate his faith, this story is a good one to practice 
on. 

Mr. Havens takes delight in stories, and tells one on a certain 
man named Wood, an English sailor, who came to the neighbor- 
hood with Mr. Samuel Lewis. Wood went hunting, with a fine 
gun, which Lewis had brought from England. The gun was 
scoured up brightly, and was of beautiful workmanship. Wood 
wounded a deer, which turned for fight, and came with its hair 
all bristling forward, though it was much worried by the dogs. 
Wood turned to the deer and said : "Don't you come 'ookin' at 
me, Mr. Deer, or I'll knock 'ee in the 'ead with the gun." But 
the deer was not familiar with broad English dialect and did not 
heed the warning. The old sailor managed the gun as he would 
a handspike and broke the deer's horns and mashed its head and 
laid it out dead. But the pretty gun, which had been brought 
from England, with pretty mountings and fancy trappings, was 
broken and battered and useless for further service. 

Hiram Havens commenced work for the Illinois Central Rail- 
road Company in 1851, when that great undertaking was put 
under contract. He worked two years and a half, furnishing 
ties, bridge lumber, etc., and could have remained in the service 
of the company, but was afraid of the uncertainty of a life on 
the road. 

Mr. Havens has been pretty successful in life, and has made 
his money by the hardest of labor. Wlien he married and com- 
menced life for himself, lie was on sixty acres of land, which was 
given to him by his father. He lived in a cabin twelve feet 
square, made of split logs. It had only one window, and was a 
hard looking affair. He and his wife had two cows, one pony, 
two chairs, one bed and one blue chest, which they used as a 
table. During the first year he did his ploughing with a bor- 
rowed horse, but succeeded well and bought more land and in 
about three years was able to build a house. He continued farm- 
ing and raising stock and accumulating property, until he became 
pretty independent. In 1850 he bought the farm of Enoch S. 



(334 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Havens, and since that time built the house where lie now lives. 
His property is not tied up with trust deeds or mortgages, but 
belongs to him in fee simple. 

He married Sarah A. Trimmer, April 5, 1838. She is still 
living. He has bad five children, of whom three are living. 
They are : 

Mrs. Martha E. Johnson, wife of John S. Johnson, lives in 
White Oak Grove. 

Alice Havens and Etta B. Havens, the pet, live at home. 

Mr. Havens is nearly six feet in height, and has a fair amount 
of muscle. His hair was once what is politely called intensely 
auburn, that is, it bad a reddish cast, but now it is sprinkled with 
gray. He has been a hard and industrious worker, and has the 
respect and confidence of the community where he resides, as is 
seen by the fact that he has been justice of the pe*?ce for sixteen 
years. 

Benjamin Wheeler. 

Benjamin Wheeler was born February 14, 1803, in Hardy 
County, Virginia, (now West Virginia,) about two and one-half 
miles from the town of Morfield. His father's name was Benja- 
min Wheeler, and his mother's maiden name was Rachel Har- 
ris. He is of English and German descent. Mr. Wheeler was, 
of course, very young during the war of 1812, but he remembers 
that about that time his mother died, leaving seven children for 
the father to look after. As strange luck would have it, Mr. 
Wheeler, sr., was drafted during that war in what was called the 
Whisky Company, while he had all these seven children to sup- 
port. But the case was one of such hardship that the town 
generously paid for a substitute, and Mr. Wheeler remained at 
home. 

The war of 1812 had a great effect on the price of various 
articles, which were imported into the country. When it was 
nearly closed, a merchant brought some salt from Baltimore to 
Morfield on packhorses, and sold it for fifty cents per quart; but 
soon the war was ended, salt was brought in cheap, and the mer- 
chant was obliged to sell out at a loss. 

When Benjamin Wheeler, jr., was about thirteen years of age, 
the family came to Licking County, Ohio. Xo incident of im- 



m'lean county. G35 

portance occurred during his youth. He married, April 10, 1828, 
Dorcas Havens, and during the fall of 1829 started for the West 
with his father-in-law, Jesse Havens. He came to Big Grove, 
where Champaign City, Ills., now is, and in 1830 came to Mc- 
Lean County. He began farming with very little to work with 
and no money. His first plow was partly of his own manufac- 
ture. He had a land side and a shear, and he made a wooden 
mould-board himself. The appearance of this plow was not pre- 
possessing. It seemed more like an A harrow than a plow ; but 
it was serviceable, and he was obliged to use it for two years be- 
fore he could make enough money to buy another. 

In 1839-40 he experienced the celebrated hard times, and 
sold pork in Lacon for one dollar and a quarter per hundred, took 
one-fourth of his pay in store goods, and the remainder in Cairo 
money, which the merchants tried to shave twelve and a half 
cents on the dollar ; but he refused to submit to it, He hauled 
shelled corn to Peoria and sold it for twelve and a half cents per 
bushel. But in 1843 prices rose, and farmers could make money. 
The fluctuations in currency at home made many a man's for- 
tune. Many men, who owed the State Bank, bought up its 
notes at a large discount and paid their debts. But with all of 
these vexations, Mr. Wheeler thinks he enjoyed himself better 
then, than he has done during the last fifteen or eighteen years. 

Mr. Wheeler was very little of a hunter. He killed two or 
three deer, but was more successful with turkeys, for when he 
shot one out of a flock, the rest fluttered around and huddled 
together, and would not run until they saw the hunter. He only 
killed three deer, and two of these were during the winter of the 
deep snow. Only six or seven deer lived during that winter in 
Havens' Grove ; wdiole droves of them perished in the snow. 

During the famous sudden change of December, 1836, Mr. 
Wheeler was out feeding his stock, and when he came into the 
house and pulled oft' his overcoat it was frozen so stiff that it 
stood upright on the floor. He speaks of a man and his daugh- 
ter, who were frozen to death in this sudden change, before they 
could go to their home, a few miles away. This incident has 
been related by several other settlers, but none seem to know 
the names of the unfortunate persons. Mr. Wheeler says that 



636 OLD SETTLERS OF 

two hours after the sudden change took place, the Six Mile Creek 
could be crossed on the ice. 

Mr. Wheeler speaks of other phenomena. In 1844, the year 
of the great rains, he was at one time entirely hemmed in. The 
Six Mile Creek overflowed the bottom lands, and Mr. Wheeler's 
house stood on an island. The creek was higher than ever be- 
fore, except the spring of 1831, when the deep snow went off. 

Mr. "Wheeler has suffered much by fire. During the fall of 
1830 a fire came up from Twin Grove, and everyone turned out 
to fight it; but' it burned up all his rails, his wheat and. his hay, 
and during the succeeding winter he was forced to depend on his 
corn, which he dug out of the deep snow. In about the year 
1838 or '40, a fire came rolling over the prairie, and Mr. Wheeler 
and his boys tore down the rail fences as fast as possible to save 
them, but nine hundred, of his rails went up in smoke. In 1840 
or '41, the fire came so swiftly, that it jumped a piece of plowed 
and burnt ground two rods wide. At another time it jumped the 
big road, which is more than two rods wide. He saw a dry fence, 
belonging to Samuel Lewis, burnt down so quickly that the stakes 
and riders were still standing, while the fence was burnt out 
underneath. Mr. Lewis was away from home at the time, and 
Mrs. Lewis came out with her mopstick to do something, but she 
might as well have thrown it at the Chicago fire. Mr. Wheeler 
has seen fire going faster than a horse could run and taking fear- 
ful leaps. It would suck in the air behind it, and move like a 
flock of wild geese with the center ahead and the wings on each 
side hanging back. 

The old settlers, of course, have a lively recollection of those 
animals, which destroyed their property. Mr. Wheeler remem- 
bers a particularly destructive lynx, for which a reward of thirty 
dollars was offered. An Indian succeeded in killing it and claimed 
tlie reward, which was refused; but the settlers took the Indian's 
part and insisted that the reward should be paid, and the Indian 
at last received it. 

The rattlesnakes, in early days, were numerous, and Mr. 
Wheeler says that the poison strikes into the system almost in- 
stantly. A Mrs. Rook was bitten by a rattlesnake on the hand, 
and her husband thought he would show great presence of mind 
by cutting out a piece of flesh, where she had been bitten; but 



m'lean county. G37 

she came near dying and was only saved by an Indian, who rub- 
bed her with China snakeroot. This was the great remedy. 

Mr. Wheeler lias seen all phases of pioneer life, and, notwith- 
standing all the hardships, he enjoyed himself very much in the 
" good old times." He has had fourteen children, ten of whom 
are living. They are : 

Valentine Wheeler, who lives in Hudson. 

Jesse Wheeler, who lives three miles west of Hudson. 

William L. Wheeler lives in Ford County, near Gibson City. 

Mrs. Rebecca Miller, wife of John G. Miller, lives in Bloom- 
ington. 

John T. Wheeler lives in Clay Centre, Clay County, Kansas. 

James A. Wheeler lives in Farmer City, DeWitt County. 

Rachel, Elizabeth, Mary and Henry Wheeler, live at home. 

Benjamin Wheeler is almost six feet in height, is a very kind 
gentleman, can tell what he knows, and fortunately knows some- 
thing to tell. His hair is srav, and his whiskers arc of mixed red 

~ Of? 

and gray. He has a hopeful disposition and a pleasant temper. 
He suffers with the asthma, which, he thinks, he brought on by 
contending with fires and becoming suddenly warm and breath- 
ing the smoke and heated air. Mrs. Wheeler, his lady, was born 
June 9, 1810, in Licking County, Ohio. She is a woman offen- 
der sympathy, has a kind heart and a pleasant word for all. 

John Smith. 

John Smith was born December 11, 1804, in Randolph Coun- 
ty, North Carolina. His father's name was David Smith, and 
his mother's name was Polly McLaughlin. His grandfather, 
Zachariah Smith, was a German, who came to America when a 
boy. He was a Baptist preacher during the Revolutionary war. 
Polly McLaughlin was of Scotch descent. David Smith moved 
to Georgia in 1811, and returned the following year to North 
Carolina. Many soldiers were seen on the way. He volunteered 
to go to the war in 1812, but was never called out. Shortly 
afterwards the Smith family went to Kentucky, where they re- 
mained a year, and then went to Centreville, Indiana, on the 
Whitewater River. They farmed and cleared forty acres of land 
on the beach. They hauled their corn on a sled, as the settle- 
ment did not have a wagon for two years. After four years of 



638 OLD SETTLERS OF 

farming there, they went to Strawtown. The health of this place 
may be inferred from the fact that only one man in it failed to 
take the fever and ague. A little difficulty occurred there with 
the Miami Indians. Some of them came to the house of a pio- 
neer, named Shintaffer, and insisted on having whisky, which 
was refused. One of them in his anger struck Shintaffer's wife 
on the cheek, and it hurt her severely, as she was suffering with 
the toothache. Mr. Shintaffer picked up the Indian and threw 
him on the fire, while Mrs. Shintaffer took the butt end of the 
whip to him. The Indian was severely burnt, and would have 
•been roasted alive, had not the squaws made an outcry. This 
was in the fall of the year. During the following spring, Mr. 
Shintaffer went with John Smith to blaze a road to the Wabash 
River, and a party of twelve Miami Indians attempted in his ab- 
sence to murder his family ; but he returned just as they were 
about to commence, and was assisted in defending his family by 
some whites, who were watching the Indians. After a severe 
scuffle, one Indian and one white man were killed. The Shin- 
taffer and the Smith families moved down to the mouth of Eel 
River. There the Smiths lived two years, then moved to Honey 
Creek prairie on the W abash, where they remained one year, 
then went to the Grand Prairie near the State line, between Illi- 
nois and Indiana, The Grand Prairie was a name given to the 
whole prairie of the Mississippi valley. On the line, where the 
Grand Prairie commenced, the beech and yellow poplar stopped. 

In 1824, John Smith moved a family to Peoria, which then 
contained only two or three houses. While on this trip, he saw, 
about twenty miles above Peoria, a large log in a tree, and on 
climbing up he found it contained the bones of an Indian, who 
must have been six feet and five inches tall. On Mr. Smith's 
return home he moved to Big Grove, Illinois, near where Urbana 
now is. While he was there, a man went to Peoria on foot to 
perfect his title to some land, and it was necessary to see the per- 
son whom John Smith moved there. On the man's return he 
walked himself to death, and was found lying between the San- 
gamon and the head of the Vermilion. 

The Indian trading-house was at the east end of Big Grove. 
In the timber were two Indian sugar camps. They had all the 
apparatus for making sugar. They had immense troughs, which 
would hold six or eight barrels of sap. 



m'lean county. 639 

Ln the spring of 1830, the Smith family moved to what was 
afterwards called Smith's Grove. John Smith immediately en- 
tered the land, whore the Jones family now live. 

The winter of the deep snow was a hard one for the Smith 
family. When the first heavy snowfall came, John Smith was 
at White Oak timher, and during- that night stayed at More's 
mill with several others. Ho was watching the mill as it ground 
his corn, but it broke during the night, and he could grind no 
more. The mill was built of logs, and was not chinked, and the 
snow drifted on the inside about eight feet high. It required the 
whole of the next day for Mr. Smith to go to Havens' Grove, 
and the whole of the following da} 7 to reach home at Smith's 
Grove. A few days afterwards, when the snow became settled 
and packed, it was impossible to go an} T where. 

John Smith married, March 30, 1831, Anna Havens. In the 
spring of 1832 he settled at Havens' Grove, about three-quarters 
of a mile north of his present residence. In 1849 he settled 
about half a mile from Hudson, in the edge of Havens' Grove, 
and has lived there ever since. 

John Smith relates an incident, which occurred in December, 
1836, during the sudden change in the weather. On the day of 
the sudden change, a man, named Lapham, was crossing the 
Mackinaw. He came over the ice on horsebaok; but just as his 
horse was stepping from the ice, which had been raised by the 
thaw, it went into the mud and water between the ice and the 
steep bank. AVhile Lapham was trying to get out his horse, the 
sudden change came on, and the intensely cold wind stupefied the 
horse, and Lapham left it and walked two miles and a half to 
John Smith's house. On the following day ho and Smith went 
back for the saddle, bridle and blankets. The horse was frozen 
solidly in the ice. The water and mud had not reached to its 
flanks, but it was so chilled by the sudden change, that it was 
powerless to loosen itself. 

John Smith has raised quite a family of childreu. He has 
had eight altogether, of whom six grew up. They are : 

Dr. Lee Smith, who was born May 8, 1832, and lives in 
Bloomington. 

Mrs. Irena Lewis, wife of Samuel H. Lewis, lives in Hudson. 



640 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Jesse and David Smith, twins, wore born December 31, 1836. 
Rev. Jesse Smith lives at Hamilton on the Mississippi River, is a 
Methodist minister, and belongs to the Central Illinois Confer- 
ence. David Smith lives at home and. attends to the farm. 

Christiana Smith lives at the homestead. 

John Smith is rive feet and nine inches in height, and is rather 
slenderly built. In his younger days he was pretty muscular and 
was a hard worker. He is very industrious and strictly honest. 
His hair is heavy and stands high on his head. Old age leaves 
its effects on him, and his eyesight is poor and his hearing has 
partially failed. He is a good man and wishes to perform all of 
his duties honestly and religiously. He has been very successful 
in life, and is one of the earliest and most honored pioneers in 
the grove where he lives. The following incident may throw 
some light on Mr. Smith's character and disposition. In an early 
day an old Quaker, named Joseph Wilson, attempted to build a 
mill on the Mackinaw, but his undertaking was not fortunate, as 
the Mackinaw is rather an uncertain stream. He afterwards 
went to the northern part of the State and built a mill on Elk- 
horn Creek, and became quite well to do in the world. He came 
to McLean County in search of grafts for fruit-trees, and while 
on this excursion, called on "his old friend, John Smith." The 
two old pioneers talked over their matters together. Friend 
"Wilson said, he wished to have plenty of apple trees, so that he 
could sit down with a basket of apples beside him, and when they 
were gone, he could say : " Boys, bring another basket of apples." 
The friends discussed their financial matters, too, and John Smith 
told how by his care and labor he had money at interest. Friend 
Wilson asked Smith, if the latter did not think he should have 
given his money to the poor. " No," said John Smith, " I have 
worked hard for it, and think I have earned it, and if I should 
give it to others they might not appreciate it". John Smith was 
right. 

Albert Young Phillips. 

Albert Y. Phillips was born April 14, 1812, at Huntsville, 
Alabama. His father's name was Glenn Phillips and his moth- 
er's name before her marriage was Leah McCord. Albert Y. 
Phillips is of Scotch and Irish descent. Glenn Phillips was a 



m'lean county. 641 

soldier in the war of 1812 and fought at the battle of Eorse Shoe 
Bend under Andrew Jackson against the Creek Indians, and died 
of hardship, exposure and want of food. 

When Albert Y. Phillips was about fourteen years of age the 
family moved to Overton County, Tennessee, and there Albert 
resided until the fall of 1830, when he came to Illinois. He ar- 
rived at Twin Grove, in what is now McLean County, November 
8, 1830. He did very little during the succeeding winter, which 
was the one of the deep snow, but kept his toes warm in the 
house as well as possible. 

In April, 1832, the Phillips family went to Indian Grove, 
which is now in Livingston County, but were alarmed for fear of 
Indian troubles during the Black Hawk war, and went to White 
Oak Grove. The Kickapoo Indians at Indian Grove were quiet 
during the Black Hawk war, but, the whites w r ere suspicious and 
fearful of them. This anxiety was increased by the freaks of an 
Indian, named Turkey, who alarmed the whites by appearing 
among them with his face painted a blood-red color. But the 
Kickapoos were friendly, polite and well behaved. They con- 
ducted themselves as gentlemen should. They attended church 
and listened to the preaching. At one time they listened to the 
exhortations of a Methodist preacher, named Walker, whose ser- 
mon was interpreted to them by Peter Cudjoe, who had married 
an Indian woman. Mrs. Phillips says she was glad to have the 
Indian women come to see her, and thought them quite good 
looking. They had regular features and would have been con- 
sidered remarkably fine women, if the copper-colored tan could 
have been removed from their cheeks. 

In September, 1832, Albert Phillips and his brother, Calvin 
Marion, and a man named Andrew Barnard, moved to Indian 
Grove to the old Indian town, which the Kickapoos had aban- 
doned during that fall. The men started with little to eat. as 
they expected to be joined by their families and by others on the 
following day. But the families were detained and did not come 
for a week, and the three men were obliged to live during that 
time on honey and hog potatoes. These potatoes grew wild on 
the creek bottoms and along the sloughs. They were little black 
things about the size of an egg, and could be boiled or roasted, 
but had a flavor very different from Irish potatoes. They were 

41 



642 OLD SETTLERS OF 

tubers, grew from three to six inches apart, and had two or three 
potatoes to a stem. 

The deer, which had been killed off during the winter of the 
deep snow, became numerous a few years later, and had a bad 
habit of eating- up the settlers' corn. They would eat the corn 
from the cob without tearing off the husk or breaking down the 
stalks, and the patch would appear a fine field of corn, when 
scarcely a kernel was left. The settlers limited the deer not only 
to obtain venison, but to protect the corn, They usually, or at 
least very often, hunted on horseback, and when a deer was 
killed, it was very common to tie it to a horse's tail and in this 
manner have it dragged home. In the fall of the year the necks 
of the bucks became as large as their bodies and very hard and 
gristly. Mr. Phillips tells of a man, named William Popejoy, 
who fired at the neck of a deer, which was lying in the grass. 
The deer jumped up, looked around and laid down, and 
Popejoy shot it in the eye and killed it. He tied it to the 
tail of his horse, and brought it home, and when it was dressed, 
the hall was cut from the neck, in which it had only penetrated 
two inches and was flattened in the gristle. Mr. Phillips saw 
this himself. 

The following story, which Mr. Phillips tells of Nicholas 
Jones, is a very remarkable one, but is confirmed by nearly all 
the settlers in Money Creek timber. It seems that Nicholas 
Jones once shot a deer in the neck and stunned it. He 
went up to it, and not having a butcher knife, neglected to cut 
its throat, but tied it to his mare's tail and started home. When 
he had gone only a few steps across Money Creek, his mare 
stopped and Jones felt a decided jerk. Looking around, he saw 
that the buck had come to life and was trying to gore the mare 
with its antlers. He whipped his horse into a run and went 
home, but could not stop running for a moment for fear of the 
deer. He ran his horse around the wagon, all the time calling to 
his wife: "Oh, Jane! fetch the butcher knife, the butcher knife, 
Jane, quick, the butcher knife!"' At last the deer's antlers be- 
came tangled in the wagon wheel and it was killed. 

Albert Phillips is five feet and ten inches in height, is rather 
sparely built, is a very industrious man, loves humorous stories 
and is very hospitable and kind. He married Margaret Moats, 



m'lean county. 643 

February 17, 18-30. She is the daughter of Jacob and Sarah 
Moats, of Money Creek timber. They have had no children. 
They married late in life, nevertheless their wedded life has been 
verv happy. But they advise young men and women to get 
married early. 

Isaac Turnipseed. 

Isaac Turnipseed was born July 1(3, 1809, in Fayette County, 
Ohio. His father's name was Christopher Turnipseed, and his 
mother's name was Mary McMullen. His father was of Penn- 
sylvania Dutch descent and his mother's ancestors were from 
Scotland. He came to what is now McLean County, Illinois, on 
horseback, in the spring of 1881. Here he worked during the 
first serson for Jaeob Haner, and in the fall bought cattle and fed 
them through the winter. In the spring he went back to Ohio, 
stayed two years, and then returned to McLean County, where 
he lived until his death. 

He bought a claim on Mackinaw, near Haner's mill, and 
made a settlement. He married, July 30, 1834, Jane Messer, 
who is yet living. He sueceeded pretty well, and was pretty 
sharp to see the value of things. He had nine children, seven of 
whom grew up and were married. They are : 

John M. Turnipseed lives on Buck Creek, north of the Mack- 
inaw. 

Mary Jane, wife of Matthias Carter, is dead. 

Sidney Ann, wife of John Neubarger, died in Kansas. 

Sarah Elizabeth, wife of J. D. Viles, lives in Jasper County. 
Illinois. 

Anderson Y. Turnipseed lives in Kansas. 

Isaac Turnipseed, jr., lives at Mr. Hinthorn's. 
G. W. Turnipseed lives at home. The two latter are not mar- 
ried. 

Mr. Turnipseed was a man of medium height, and very 
healthy, and took very little medicine. He was one of the best 
known settlers in Mackinaw timber. He lived in the edge of 
Money Creek timber at the time of his death. His widow, Mrs. 
Turnipseed, still lives on the homestead place. She is a kind 
and hospitable old lady, whom it is a pleasure to be acquainted 
with. 



644 old settlers of 

Elijah Priest. 

Elijah Priest was born September 10, 1812, in Muskingum 
County, Ohio. His father's name was James Priest, and his 
mother's maiden name was Hannah Anderson. James Priest 
was a great hunter after deer and bear. On one of his hunting 
excursions the old gentleman cornered a bear by the root of a 
tree. It began hugging his hunting dog, and he killed it by 
striking it on the head with an axe. The fat on the ribs was 
nearly four inches thick, the fattest bear he ever killed. 

Elijah Priest worked in the summer at the business of making 
charcoal, and in the winter he worked in a furnace for melting 
ore into pig-iron. This was, indeed, warm work, so warm, that 
the sweat ran down into his shoes and squirted out at every step 
he took ; indeed, it was so hot, that water was poured on his 
clothes to prevent them from catching lire. ItVas Mr. Priest's 
duty to clear out the hole in order to draw the melted ore from 
the furnace into the sand-bed to cool into pig metal. The hole 
was stopped with clay, and when the furnace was heated and the 
iron melted, this clay became as hard as iron, and had to be 
drilled out. Mr. Priest drilled it out while from two to four tons 
of melted iron were in the furnace. If he allowed a particle to 
fall into the liquid metal, it would boil up and spit out melted 
iron, and a piece of clay as large as an egg would blow up the 
whole mass of metal. The hands, who worked at the furnace, 
wore linen, and persons stood near and poured water over them. 
Mr. Priest worked first in the Mary Ann furnace in Licking 
County, Ohio, and next in the town of Zoar, in Tuscarawa 
County. The town of Zoar, as well as the furnace, was owned by 
a German, named Beimoner. This man provided for the entire 
town. He employed men to herd the cattle, and women to herd 
the sheep and geese. Mr. Priest never saw any children in the 
place. 

On the eleventh of September, 1833, the day after he became 
of age, Mr. Priest married Rebecca Hinthorn, and in June, 1834, 
he started for the West. He arrived at Money Creek timber on 
the west side, where he now lives, on the eighth day of July. 
The journey was a warm and dry one, and he suffered greatly 
for want of water and food. He ran out of provisions near Big 



m'lka.n county. 645 

Grove, then called Pin Hook, now called CJrbana. IFe made 
many enquiries, and heard that a certain man had recently two 
sacks of meal ground at mill. Mr. Priest wished to buy some, 
and sent a little boy, named Henry Moats, to get it. Henry came 
back empty-handed, but reported that the man had a big corn 
pone on the fire. Mr. Priest then went with the boy, and the 
latter was instructed to open the door, whenever Priest stood by 
the fire. Mr. Priest oft'ered to buy some meal, but was refused ; 
then he stood by the fire, where the pone was cooking, and Henry 
immediately opened the door. Priest was then about to walk 
ort" with the pone ; but the man of the house saw that he must 
give way, and he allowed Priest a peck of meal. When Mr. 
Priest arrived at Money Creek timber, he would have given all 
he possessed to have been back in Ohio ; but it was impossible 
to get away. He immediately began farming and Avorked very 
hard. He never bought a sack of flour after his arrival here, 
as he always raised his own. He was a man of great strength, 
and made sometimes three hundred rails in one day. 

Mr. Priest has done some hunting, for deer were plenty and 
easy to kill. He once found a little fawn as he was out in the 
timber cutting a tree. When the tree fell the fawn started from 
its hiding place and jumped into Mr. Priest's arms. It was a 
pretty, spotted little creature, about two weeks old, and he took 
it home, and it became very tame, and ran all over the neighbor- 
hood. It was distinguished from the wild deer by a tassel around 
its neck. It was a doe, and when it grew up, he raised • seven 
deer : but when game grew scarce, they were all killed by hun- 
ters. The doe was killed by Samuel Ogden, who immediately 
informed Priest that it was done by accident. But the parties, 
who killed the other seven, were never discovered. 

Mr. Priest came to the West a poor man in a borrowed wagon, 
but has been very industrious, and has succeeded well. Four 
years ago he was offered forty-five thousand dollars for his prop- 
erty, but did not consider it for a moment. His property has 
been earned by his strong muscle and his good judgment. 

Mrs. Priest died some years ago, and on the eleventh of Sep- 
tember, 1870, Mr. Priest married Mrs. Minerva McCurdy. Her 
maiden name was Minerva Johnson. 



646 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Priest has had seven children, but four died in infancy, 
and three are now living. They are : 

Sarah Priest, James Saulsbury Priest and George Washing- 
ton Priest. 

Mr. Priest is about five feet and nine inches in height, and 
weighs two hundred and thirty pounds. He is a man of extra- 
ordinary strength, and, in his younger days, scarcely knew what it 
was to be tired. He has worked during his life without the benefit 
of an education, for an education could not be obtained where he 
lived in Ohio. But in spite of these disadvantages he has been 
very successful, and owes nothing to anyone, except good will. 
He is a very clever man to anyone who is disposed to deal fairly 
and do right with him ; but to anyone who is disposed to cut up 
shines, Mr. Priest is a very unpleasant customer. His memory 
seems remarkably good, and in conversation he tells of many 
curious and strange incidents. He is a man with a very strong 
constitution, and his temperate habits have preserved it unim- 
paired. With his great strength and good health, he ought to 
live to be a centenarian and celebrate one hundred Fourths of 
July. 

Samuel Lewis. 

Samuel Lewis was born in the fall of 1800, in England. He 
was a plumber, glazier and painter by trade. He married, in 
England, Sarah Seeley. He emigrated to the United States in 
November, 1835. The Lewis family came over to JSTew York in 
the sail vessel Virginia, and were twenty-six days on the journey. 

At that time the Hudson colony was talked of, and the three 
agents of the company, Pettit, Purkit and Gregory, induced 
Lewis to join it and buy a section of land. The land was bought 
by the agents at Havens' Grove, and in May, 1836, Samuel Lewis 
went there with his family by way of New Orleans. They went 
to the latter place on a sail vessel, which brought up a Chinese 
junk from the mouth of the Mississippi to Xew Orleans. From 
Xe\v Orleans they came up the river by steamboat, and on the 
route the passengers amused themselves by shooting at alliga- 
tors. The Lewis family stayed two or three months at Hennepin, 
and then came through to Havens' Grove with ox-teams. Mr. 
Lewis settled during the first winter in the south end of the grove 



m'lean county. G47 

in a rented log cabin. He immediately began fanning, setting 
out fruit trees and grafting them. He hunted once in a while, 
though seldom. At one time while hunting he saw a deer come 
bounding up with blood pouring from its side. He fired and the 
animal fell. Mr. Havens came up and claimed the deer, and as 
but one bullet hole was found, Mr. Lewis gave it up, for it had 
certainly been shot before he fired. Havens took home the deer, 
but in dressing, he found two bullets, and it was evident, that 
both had entered the deer at the same spot, and that the shot of 
Lewis had taken effect. The deer was, therefore, divided. 

Mr. Lewis hauled pork to Pekin, and during one trip carried 
a whisky bottle and put it into a hog, and as it was cold weather 
the hog froze up. On the way he met a preacher, and the two 
men had a very difficult undertaking to get out the whisky. 

People were all neighborly in the early days. Mr. Lewis' 
daughter Jane was once bitten by a rattlesnake, and old John 
Pennel, who lived six miles distant, left his wheat stacks, where 
lie was at work, and dug China snakeroot and cured her. He 
would accept no pay for this, as he " never charged neighbors 
anything." A horse belonging to Mr. Lewis went astray, and 
was taken up and kept by Peter McCullough, who lived nine or 
ten miles away at Dry Grove, and when Mr. Lewis asked the 
bill, old Peter said he " never charged neighbors anything." In- 
deed, the people considered all men neighbors whom they met 
within eighty miles or more. 

The dress, which the Lewis family wore, was somewhat dif- 
ferent from that worn by them in England. The English goods 
gave way to blue jeans and buckskin. 

When Mr. Lewis had an opportunity he worked at his trade. 
He made the first vats in St. Louis for pressing stearine candles 
out of lard. 

Mr. Lewis died December 29, 1871. He had six children, of 
whom four grew up to years of discretion. They are : 

William Lewis, who was a bugler in the regular army. He 
died at Fort Gibson, which is now in the Indian Territory, in 
1844. 

Mrs. Sarah Ann Burtis, wife of Edwin E. Burtis, lived in 
Hudson. She died about twelve years ago. 

Samuel H. Lewis lives in Hudson. 



648 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mrs. Jane Wheeler, wife of Valentine Wheeler, lives in 
Hudson. 

Mr. Lewis was five feet ten and one-half inches in height- 
He walked erect, was a hard worker, was very successful in busi- 
ness, was a kind neighbor and an honest man. 

Samuel Henry Lewis. 

Samuel H. Lewis was born April 14, 1828, in Cheltenham, 
Gloucestershire, England. His father was Samuel Lewis, whose 
sketch is given above. When he came to Hudson he early learned 
to cultivate his muscle by hard work on a farm. Nevertheless, 
he did not allow the work of the farm to prevent him from mak- 
ing sharp work with the deer and turkeys, and at one time killed 
three deer within a space of a few rods. One of them was not 
immediately killed, and Mr. Lewis ran up to finish the work with 
his knife, when the animal uttered a bawl, threw up its hind legs 
and tore Mr. Lewis' pants frightfully ; but he killed it at last. 
At one time he shot a deer and wounded it severely, when it 
turned on him with its hair bristled up and pointing forward. 
Mr. Lewis made quick time to the rear, and his father came to 
Lis assistance and shot the pugnacious buck. 

The most serious trouble the settlers encountered was the dif- 
ficulty in getting their grain ground. Samuel Lewis and his 
brother once went to Crocker's mill and found three weeks grind- 
ing to be done before their turn would come. Fred Trimmer 
wished to have the business done for the boys first, so that they 
could go, but this was not allowed, as it was said that, if this was 
done, people would always send their boys to mill. Sometimes 
when he was delayed at the mill he worked for his board, for he 
was an industrious boy. He went to Green's mill, above Ottawa, 
sixty miles distant, and found this easier than going to the mills 
nearer home, as he could get his grinding done at Ottawa with- 
out waiting. 

Mr. Lewis traveled in the West occasionally, and saw some- 
thing of the country. Some twenty years ago he made an excur- 
sion to Texas, and found the people hospitable and kind, and 
everyone was ready and willing to entertain him, when he wished 
to stop. He made a trip down there after the war, but no one 



m'lean county. 649 

was willing to entertain him, for all looked upon him with sus- 
picion. Such are the results of the war. 

His first excursion was full of life. While crossing the 
Trinity River on horseback, the swift current carried him down 
stream, and pressed him and his horse against a sapling, and tore 
off one of his saddle-bags. He sprang from his horse and saved 
the missing bag, and by good luck, as well as good conduct, came 
out of the river in safety. Mr. Lewis' partner, on this excursion, 
a man named Mason, rode an active little pony, which some- 
times raised its rider in the air. Mr. Mason was thrown three 
times in one day. His pony once dodged a greenbriar thicket 
on one side, while the rider thought it would go the other, and 
he was compelled himself to take a middle course and go head 
first into the thicket. On their return, Lewis and Mason came 
through the Indiin territory with a drove of cattle. The Indians 
were partly civilized, and were up to a great deal of civilized 
rascality. While the drovers were crossing the Canadian River, 
in the Chocktaw country, the Indians drove the cattle, which cross- 
ed first, up on a mountain, and when the drovers came over, the 
Indians offered to get the cattle down for a dollar a head. But 
the drovers hired a negro tp bring down the cattle for fifty cents 
a head, so that the Indians made nothing by their sharpness after 
all. The Indians, at that time, lived a civilized life and owned 
slaves, and some of them were quite wealthy. There were among 
the Chocktaws some half-breed Indians and negroes, but this was 
a bad cross, as the half-breeds were treacherous and cowardly. 
Lewis and Mason had their cattle twice stampeded, once from a 
corral, but had little difficulty in finding them. The Texas cattle 
are a strange breed. It is dangerous to approach them on foot ; 
but they are very easily driven by men on horseback. The Texas 
drovers are bold riders, and when seated on a horse it is impos- 
sible to shake them off. They would ride any bull for five dol- 
lars. . They would lassoo the bull, strap on a saddle tightly, and 
ride the ferocious animal until it sulked and laid down, and then 
they would take off the saddle. Mr. Lewis was with the Indians 
in the Indian territory long enough to form an opinion of some 
of the tribes. He was much impressed with the civilization of 
the Chocktaws and Cherokees, but the Creeks were not so intel- 
ligent. The various Indian nations had their territory set off to 



650 OLD SETTLERS OF 

them, and were divided from eaeli other by iron posts set up on 
the prairie, which showed the division lines. The life of a 
drover does not improve a man's personal appearance, and Mr. 
Lewis, on his return, was not the handsome man, who went away- 
His beard was grown, his coat was lost, his clothing torn, his face 
1 aimed, and in his general appearance he bore a closer resemblance 
to a shaggy buffalo on the plains than to a human being. 

Mr. Lewis made an excursion to Texas since the war, and 
while there, was in danger of the Comanches, who came down 
the night before his arrival, killed several men, and took several 
children prisoners. The children would be traded back for a 
pony or a horse. The Comanches are fierce and vicious. When 
they find a man on the prairie, they circle around bin on horse- 
back, and lay on the sides of their horses and shoot from un- 
derneath while on the run. A good double-barrelled shot gun 
is the most effective weapon of defence, and more feared by them 
than a rifle. Mr. Lewis did not buy cattle on that excursion, as 
he could not see that it would pay. 

Mr. Lewis married, January 1, 1868, Irene Smith, and has 
two children. He is six feet in height, is squarely built, has 
broad shoulders, a heavy head of sandy hair, and heavy red 
whiskers. He has blue eyes, and a broad, square, English face. 
He has had as good an education as the child of a pioneer could 
get. He went to old Dr. Hobbs, of Bloomington, When Mr. 
Lewis was twenty-one years of age, he was made a constable, 
and served under William McCullough. Mr. Lewis has assessed 
the town of Hudson for eight years, and the experience he ob- 
tained under McCullough has been of great advantage to him 
in making his assessments. He is a jolly man, full of fun and 
jokes, enjoys a good story, and can tell one himself very easily. 
He " never charges neighbors anything." 

James Turner Gildersleeve. 

James T. Gildersleeve was born April 10, 1803, in Hempstead, 
Queens County, New York. His father's name was James Gil- 
dersleeve, and his mother's name before her marriage was Cath- 
erine Dorlon. Hempstead was settled in 1648 by a few emigrants 
from New Englaud, who came originally from Hernel Hemp- 
stead, twenty-three miles from the city of London. They re- 



m'lban county. 651 

ceived a patent of ground-brief from Governor Kieft, the Dutch 
governor of what was called New Netherlands. This patent was 
granted November 16, 1644, and was confirmed by the Indians 
July 4, 1657. This confirmation was obtained for the purpose 
of preventing any disturbances, which might otherwise occur 
between the whites and their Indian neighbors. 

Among the first colonists were Richard Gildersleeve and 
Richard Gildersleeve, j^r., ancestors of James T. Gildersleeve. 
They received three hundred and sixty acres of land. In those 
days the colonists were obliged to pay tithes to the Dutch gov- 
ernor, and it was resolved in town meeting of July 10, 1658, to 
depute Richard Gildersleeve to go down to the Manhattans to 
agree with the governor concerning the tithes, which the}- re- 
solved should not exceed one hundred sheeples of wheat, to be 
delivered at the town harbor. At the same town meeting they 
agreed to pay the herdsman twelve shillings sterling per week 
in butter, corn and oats, at fixed prices, as follows : butter, six 
pence per pound ; corn, two shillings and six pence per bushel. 
The prices of other things were also fixed. Wheat was to be 
four shillings per bushel ; pork, three pence per pound ; lodg- 
ing, two pence per night; board, five shillings per week; victuals, 
six pence per meal, and labor, two shillings and six pence per 
day. It was further agreed, that the people should all be ready 
at the sounding of the horn to turn out their cows and the 
keeper was required to be ready, when the sun was half an 
hour high, to take them to the pasture. He was to bring them 
back every evening a half an hour before sunset, and to drive 
them one day in each week to Cow Neck, where they could eat 
the vegetation, which was salted by the tide. 

James T. Gildersleeve lived on his father's farm near Hemp- 
stead nearly all the time until he came West. He spent a short 
time in New York studying law. He married in Hempstead, 
August 23, 1828, Mary Ann Eckford Rhodes, who died in 
Bloomington, August 9, 1846. 

In the winter of 1835-6, in the town of Jacksonville, Mor- 
gan County, Illinois, certain parties drew up articles of agree- 
ment, associating themselves together to form a colony. This 
association was formed February 6, 1836, and it was known as 
the Illinois Land Association. The business of the association 



652 OLD SETTLERS OF 

was conducted by an executive committee of three. These were 
George F. Purkitt, Horatio N. Pettit and John Gregory. In the 
spring of 1836 Horatio N. Pettit came to Mr. Gildersleeve in 
Hempstead, and wished him to join the colony. James T. and 
Joseph D. Gildersleeve subscribed for four colony interests, which 
gave them the right to nearly seven hundred acres of land, 
consisting of prairie and timber land, and town lots in 
Hudson. Mr. Gildersleeve started Wes{ in September, 1836, 
from New York with his wife and child. They went to 
Philadelphia, thence to Pittsburg, and thence by steam- 
boat to St. Louis. From Louisville to St. Louis they enjoyed 
the society of a circus troupe. From the latter place they went 
by steamboat to Pekin, and from there started to Bloomington 
in a three-horse wagon. There was then a perfect rush of peo- 
ple to Illinois, and wherever they went on their journey, every 
place and all means of transportation were crowded. When it 
drew towards night on their journey from Pekin it was almost 
impossible to get a place to stay one night. Each one referred 
them to the next house. His first hotel bill was $2.50, for which 
he wished to give a gold quarter-eagle, but the man wanted it in 
silver. At Dry Grove Mr. Gildersleeve learned that Bloom- 
ington was full of people, so he came across to Havens' Grove. 

Mr. Gildersleeve's family lived very uncomfortably and in 
close quarters until he could build a house, which he occupied 
on the fourth of December. This forms a part of the house 
where he now lives. Jacob H. Burtis, of Jacksonville, stayed 
that winter in one-half of his house, and was ready to build in 
the spring. During that winter Mr. Gildersleeve's family had 
no flour and was obliged to boil corn as a substitute for bread. 

The rattlesnakes in early days were plenty, and they took up 
quarters wherever they could find it convenient. Mr. Gilder- 
sleeve remembers that on one occasion, when he went to the 
hearth to light his pipe, he heard a sharp rattle and found a 
snake coiled up on the hearth. It had crawled through the 
weather-boarding between the outside of the house and the wall 
and there, seeing a hole in the plastering, had crawled through 
to the hearth. 

The difficulties of travel, before the roads were worked and 
the bridges built, were of course much greater than at present. 



m'lean county. 653 

Mr. Gildersleeve had once a very intelligent horse, and in 
March, 1837, wished to cross the Six Mile Creek near Havens' 
Grove, while the ice was runuing. His horse, full of courage 
and intelligence, sprang upon a thick cake of ice as it floated 
down, walked across and stepped off on the other side. Mr. 
Gildersleeve was once riding this horse across a bridge on Sugar 
Creek, when the stream was high and running like a mill-race. 
Several planks were floated oft' and others were raised up ; but 
the horse stepped cautiously over the holes, and when the planks 
were raised up, it carefully pressed them down to the beams on 
which they rested, before it trusted its weight. After the coun- 
try became a little settled, the ducks and geese and sandhill 
cranes became very numerous. At one time, while Mr. and 
Mrs. Gildersleeve were riding over the country, which had late- 
ly been burnt by a fire, they saw what appeared to be a new 
fence, which extended a long distance ; but as they approached, 
it proved to be some thousands of sandhill cranes. 

In about the year 1843 or '44 a great hail storm visited the 
West. It was the severest ever known. A green cloud came 
up from the south, and when the storm burst the hail stones 
came down with terrific force. They split the shingles on the 
roofs of houses, killed the prairie chickens and snipe on the 
prairie, and broke the back of a hog in Havens' Grove, a half a 
mile west of Hudson. These hail stones were of great size ; 
one of them measured seven inches in circumference. When 
the storm was over, a Mr. Binehart took a basket and collected 
it full of prairie chickens and snipe, which had been killed by 
the hail stones. 

In the spring of 1845 Mr. Gildersleeve was appointed Clerk 
of the Circuit Court by Judge Treat. Some time after this the 
new constitution was adopted, making the office elective. In 
November, 1848, the time for election came, and Mr. Gilder- 
sleeve and William H. Allin were candidates, the former a Dem- 
ocrat and the latter a Whig. The contest was very sharp indeed, 
and Mr. Gildersleeve's friends worked very hard. Even Abra- 
ham Brokaw, who never before or since took an interest in 
politics, worked for Mr. Gildersleeve enthusiastically. The 
Whig majority was about six hundred, bnt Mr. Gildersleeve was 
only beaten by eighty or ninety votes. 



654 OLD SETTLERS OF 

In March, 1849, Mr. Gilclersleeve moved back to Hudson, 
where he has resided ever since. Mr. Gildersleeve has had 
three children, but only one is living. This is Charles Turner 
Gildersleeve, who was brought to this country when only six 
years old. It was at that time supposed that every one who 
came to the West would have the ague, and though the infant 
Gildersleeve was a fine, healthy boy, it was thought that he too 
must endure the shakes. An old lady, who saw young Charles, 
said: "You poor little boy, to think how soon the color must 
come out of those cheeks !" But the old lady was wrong, 
for Charles has borne the climate well and is a healthy man. 

Mr. Gildersleeve is six feet in height, and is generously 
formed ; his hair is white and flowing, and this, with his full 
white beard, gives him the appearance of a patriarch. His eyes 
are black, and his features are large. He seems to be a man of 
large mind, and would naturally be popular and command the 
support of friends. He is full of humor and loves to tell funny 
stories almost as well as Abraham Lincoln ; and they are good 
ones, and have point and fun in them. He married, October 14, 
1847, Elizabeth S. Conkling, at Leroy. The ceremony was 
performed by Rev. Dr. Perry. She is a pleasant lady and loves 
a joke as well as her husband. She has very quick percep- 
tions and greatly enjoys the society of her friends. 

Joseph Darling Gildersleeve. 

Joseph D. Gildersleeve was born November 30, 1805, in 
Hempstead, Queens County, New York, on Long Island. (For 
his ancestors see sketch of his brother James). 

Mr. Gildersleeve remembers some of the queer customs among 
the farmers of Hempstead, and particularly what was called "sheep 
parting." They all had their sheep marked and turned out on 
the commons on the first of April of every year ; and on the 
first of November the sheep were put in a large pen, around which 
were several smaller pens, and here the sheep were divided. All 
were driven up together and each farmer hunted up his sheep, 
which were recognized by their marks and put in separate pens. 
This was always a great day and a large crowd attended. They 
drank wine and cider and beer and varied the exercises with 
uorse-racin°;. 



m'lean county. 655 

Mr. Gildersleevewent to school in Hempstead and received his 
common school education there. He was not remarkably different 
from other boys, but occasionally had his fun. He once went 
down to explore a well on a boyish frolic and the well caved 
partly in. lie was rescued, but shortly afterwards it all caved 
in. He and a companion once rescued a man, who was caught 
in a well, which had caved in and covered up the unfortunate 
person, so that only his hair was visible. They dug away the 
dirt around his head, put a barrel over it to protect him and suc- 
ceeded at last in getting him out. 

Mr. Gildersleeve chose the profession of carriage maker and 
painter, and worked on Long Island and also for a year or two 
in Dutchess County. In the fall of 1836 he came with his brother, 
James T. Gildersleeve, to Hudson, McLean County, Illinois, and 
began farming and raising stock. He has ever since resided in 
Hudson township. He was something of a sportsman, and oc- 
casionally hunted wolves, deer and turkeys. Mr. Gildersleeve 
frequently chased wolves, and at one time, while riding eagerly 
after one on horseback with a gun, he tried to shoot, but every 
time he stopped, the wolf gained so fast and went so far that he 
was obliged to renew the chase. At last he fired, but the exer- 
tion was too much for his gravity, and he pitched headlong from 
the horse, which went after the wolf on its own account. Mr. 
Gildersleeve was not always so unfortunate in hunting, for occa- 
sionally luck seemed to decide in his favor. He at one time 
killed three deer with two bullets. The first bullet killed two 
deer standing together, and the second killed a third deer near 

by- 

Mr. Gildersleeve married, May 23, 1844, Mary Messer. He 
has had four children, two of whom are dead and two are living. 
They are : 

James Gildersleeve, born March 29, 1845, died February 14, 
1847. 

Elizabeth Hellen Gildersleeve, born May 17, 1849, died No- 
vember 28, 1865. 

Catherine J. Gildersleeve, born June 30, 1851, married Robert 
Mavis, and lives one mile east of Hudson. 

Isaac M. Gildersleeve, born April 7, 1854, lives at home. 



656 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Gildersleeve is about five feet and ten inches in height. 
His hair and whiskers are perfectly gray with age. He has 
rather a strong face, has black eyes, is a kind man and has plenty 
of courage. He has been temperate in his habits, never smoked 
or chewed tobacco, and never played a game of cards, in which 
respect he differs from many young men of the present day. 

Jacob Hicks Burtis. 

Jacob Hicks Burtis was born November 18, 1796, in Queens 
County, on Long Island, within a few miles of Hampstead. 
When eighteen or twenty years of age he went to New York 
and learned the carving business of the cabinet makers' trade. 

During the war of 1812, he enlisted in a company in New 
York city and was chosen captain, but was never called into 
active service. He married, February 5, 1821, Eliza Carman, 
who died in 1832. Mr. Burtis was a merchant for two years in 
Brooklyn. In May, 1835, he married Mary Weeks, and in Sep- 
tember of that year he started for the west. His family stopped 
for a while in Jacksonville, and at Alton, Illinois, and did not 
arrive at Hudson township until December 1, 1836. His family 
lived during the first winter with James T. Gildersleeve. Mr. 
Burtis had bought a share in the Hudson colony, and this gave 
him a right to one hundred and sixty acres of prairie and some 
wood land. He settled, in the spring of 1837, about two miles 
north of the village of Hudson, and there remained until the 
time of his death, which occurred June 16, 1873. He first built 
a small house of lumber, sawed with a whip saw, but, with im- 
proving circumstances, he was enabled to build larger. 

His health, previous to his death, had not been good for some 
time, but the sickness, which immediately preceded his death, 
lasted only two days. 

Mr. Burtis was a Christian man, though not a member of any 
church. He received the rite of baptism in the Episcopal church ; 
but as his parents died when he was very young, he was never 
confirmed. He was very quiet, patient and hopeful, in his last 
illness, as long as consciousness remained. 

Mr. Burtis had four children by his first marriage, and five 
by his second. The children by the first marriage are : 

Edwin Elias, who died in March, 1869. 



m'lean county. 657 

Phoebe Eliza, wife of Alfred T. Weeks, lives just north of 
the homestead. 

Jacob Hicks Burtis, jr., lives at El Paso. 

Hannah Alma, wife of John Carl, died in 1859. 

The children by the second marriage are : 

Catherine Augusta, who died in infancy. 

Alfred S. Burtis was a soldier during the rebellion in the 
Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and died January 9, 1862, of sickness in 
the hospital at Mound City. 

Catherine Augusta, wife of William M. Collins, lives at 
Moline. 

Rachel R., wife of Francis B.. Johnston, lives at the home- 
stead. 

James H. Burtis enlisted in the Fourth Illinois Cavalry, and 
died at Camp Butler, near Springfield, February 3, 1864. 

Enoch A. Gastman. 

Enoch A. Gastman was born June 5, 1801, in West Fries- 
land, Holland. His father's name was Eilt A. Gastman. He 
never came to America, nor did any of his relatives, except his 
son, Enoch, whose sketch we are writing. In 1808 young Enoch 
went on board of a French man-of-war, when Napoleon Bona- 
parte was at the head of affairs in France. It was young Enoch's 
business to brush coats and black boots. The discipline was 
very strict, as Enoch found by sad experience. 

In 1812-13, Napoleon made his celebrated march to Moscow 
and his disastrous retreat. After his defeat and capture, the 
soldiers and sailors under him were discharged, and Enoch was 
told to go. He went back to Holland, where he remained^ until 
spring, and then went coasting on board of a Dutch schooner. 
After coasting about a great deal and visiting many ports, he 
came on land for a while, and was bound out to learn the trade 
of carpenter and joiner. After working for two years he took 
French leave of his master. He worked at other places and 
stayed for one winter with his father. When he became seven- 
teen years of age, he fell in with an East India captain and ship- 
ped as carpenter's mate forBatavia, on the island of Java. There 
he saw many Chinamen with their brimmed hats. But the crew 
were seldom allowed to go ashore, as the place was very sickly. 
42 



658 OLD SETTLERS OP 

An intoxicating drink, called arrack, is made there out of the 
juice of the cocoanut tree. This juice is allowed to ferment, and 
when it works it makes the intoxicating drink. All persons, 
who go to Java, must exercise the greatest caution in their diet 
or they sicken and die. While Mr. Gastman was there, an 
American ship came to port, and as the sailors had been with- 
out grog for a long time, they were given their back rations in 
arrack, and they drank themselves to death and were buried on 
the island of Unrest. Mr. Gastman made three trips to Java. 
In 1824 he and three others chartered a vessel to carry a cargo 
of powder and gin to the Mexicans, who were then fighting for 
independence against Spain. They started through the British 
channel, but a southwest wind blew them to the North Sea. 
They attempted to go around the British Isles to the Atlantic 
Ocean, but were dismasted and waterlogged, and would have 
gone to the bottom, had not the cargo of gin kept the vessel 
afloat. Seven of the crew were drowned, and seven were picked 
up by an American vessel. Of these, two died from the effects 
of their hardships, and the remaining five were carried to New 
York. There he shipped on board of a vessel for Norfolk, 
thence to Grenada, South America, thence to Turk's Island, and 
thence to Portland, Maine. He made a great many voyages to 
all parts of the world, and had a great many adventures, but 
thought he would settle down at work in New York as a rigger. 
But soon he was off on a voyage to London, then came back to 
New York. Here he married, July 11, 1830, Margaret Hiegans. 
After many voyages and adventures, he had a wife, and seventy- 
five cents in his pocket. He again became a rigger for a while, 
but soon was a public porter, and remained such for six years. 
For six years also, he was a night watchman, and a part of this 
time a porter. He had many lively adventures in New York, 
while making arrests, as thieves and smugglers were plenty. In 
the winter of 1837-8, he started for Illinois, and arrived at 
Hudson, McLean County, in March. Everything was then sell- 
ing at high prices. He boarded for a while with Horatio N. 
Pettit, then traded his land for the place of R. G. Marion, and 
moved on the latter farm in June. In 1840 the prices of pro- 
duce of all kinds came down, aud it seemed as if everything 
was given away. Mr. Gastman contracted to sell a load of 



m'lean county. 659 

potatoes to Mr. Barnett, of the Eagle Hotel, but when the 
former went to deliver them he could get only four cents per 
bushel. Rather than sell them at such a figure he carried them 
down to Sugar Creek, took out the tail-board of his wagon and 
emptied them into the stream. 

In the spring of 1857, Mrs. Gastman died, and in April, Mr. 
Gastman moved to Hudson and sent his children to Eureka Col- 
lege. In 1858 he married Ann Hitch. She died in 1862. He 
then moved to his son's farm. In 1863, Mr. Gastman married 
Lavinia Randalls, who is yet living. 

Mr. Gastman has had five children, of whom two are living. 
They are : 

Enoch A. Gastman, jr., who was born June 15, 1834, in New 
York city, No. 54 Mulberry street. He went to Eureka College 
for three months, then to the Normal school, where he graduated. 
He has been for twelve years superintendent of schools at Deca- 
tur, Illinois. 

George Washington Gastman was born July 12, 1837, in 
New York city. He went one year and three months to Eureka 
College, when his health failed him, and he returned to his farm. 
He is married, and lives on his farm near Hudson. 

Francis Marion Gastman was born in August, 1842, in Hud- 
son township. He was two years at Eureka College, and two 
years at the Normal. He enlisted in the army in 1861, in the 
Normal regiment, (Thirty-third Illinois,) commanded by Colonel 
Hovey. He died at Black River, March 22, 1862. 

These are all of Mr. Gastman's children, who grew up to 
manhood. He named the last two after Revolutionary patriots 
and is sorry that Enoch was not also named after some Revolu- 
tionary soldier. If he had another child he would name it 
Andrew Jackson, (regardless of sex,) on account of the services 
rendered by Jackson during the Revolution. (?) 

Mr. Gastman is a Democrat, dyed in the wool, a real, genuine, 
uncompromising Democrat, and would vote for no man of any 
other party. He is five feet and ten inches in height, and is 
enormously muscular. He treats a rough man roughly, but when 
he talks to gentlemen he is a gentleman himself. He is a 
humorous man, and takes life pleasantly. He delights in telling 



660 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of his adventures, and will sit and talk by the hour, when he has 
an appreciative listener. He is proud of his boys, and has a 
right to be, for they are an honor to him. 

LAWKDALE. 
David Henline and "William B. Henline. 

David and William B. Henline, brothers, live near each other 
in Lawndale township. They own their large property together, 
consisting of large nocks of cattle and stock of all kinds, and 
about four thousand acres of land. As they are united in all 
things, their sketches are written together and so placed in this 
volume. 

David was born March 6, 1822, and William B. was born 
December 20, 1823, in Boone county, Kentucky. Their father's 
name was John Henline, of German descent, and their mother's 
name, before her marriage, was Mary Darnell. John Henline 
was a successful farmer and kept his business very straight. In 
the fall of 1828, the Henline family came to the West. On the 
first day of the journey, John Henline broke his leg, and it was 
set by quack doctors and bound with straight splints. He suf- 
fered with it severely, and during the first winter after his arrival 
in the West, he chopped in the timber by kneeling down. The, 
family came first to Hittle's Grove, in Tazewell county, near the 
present line between Tazewell and McLean. There they re- 
mained a few weeks, while John Henline went to Mackinaw 
timber and built a cabin. When it was finished, he returned 
and brought the family. The three brothers, John, George and 
William Henline, all settled near each other. 

The little Henline boys were often visited by the little 
Indians. The latter were usually the victors in the races they 
ran ; but the former showed more muscle and came out first best 
in the childish quarrels. Such things always excited the anger 
of the squaws, and they would chastise the little pappooses 
severely, and bring up the little Henlines to their mother and 
clap their hands together and say, ." whip pappoose, whip pap- 
poose." The old lady would go through the motions of whip- 
ping her boys, and the little Henlines would yell, and the squaws 
would laugh, and all parties would be satisfied. 



m'lean county. 661 

In the fall of 1880, the Henlines went back to Kentucky to 
get a stock of farming implements. While there, Mrs. Henline 
took up a lot of little apple sprouts in a stocking, put earth 
around them and brought them out to Illinois. The orchard 
raised from these sprouts is yet standing on the Henline place. 
At Cincinnati, the Henlines bought large kettles in which to 
boil maple sap, and some of these kettles they still have. 

The winter of 1830-81, of the deep snow, is an era in the 
life of all who experienced its severity. When the snow began 
falling, Martin Darnell, from Indian Grove, was at the house of 
the Henlines. He started home, ten miles distant, after the snow 
began falling, in company with John Henline and Squire Thomp- 
son. The two latter went about three miles, and Darnell went 
the rest of the way alone. He was short of meat, but captured 
a few wild hogs, and by this means his family was saved from 
great suffering. They saw no living person outside of their own 
family for six weeks or more. During that fearful winter, the 
Henline boys obtained plenty of healthy exercise by gathering 
corn. John Henline, jr., fed wild hogs out in the snow, and 
they made a track as they came up. One morning, he told the 
folks to look out for deer, as he would drive some up. Soon he 
was heard to halloo and sure enough up came the deer. Three 
of them were killed, but were hardly worth it, as they were 
very poor. 

During the Black Hawk war the people were much alarmed, 
and the settlers made a fort on the land of John Henline, and 
during their occasional frights would collect there from all parts 
of the country. The slightest thing would cause an alarm, and 
the people would gather in. At one time an Indian came to the 
house of a woman named Shelton, and obtained some bread and 
milk; but she was so scared that she took her children to a 
schoolhouse, where her husband was teaching, and the school 
was dismissed immediately and the people were aroused. At 
another time some boys were out in the woods at play, when one 
of them caught sight of a stump and said, " I see an Injin," and 
ran for home digging up dirt with his little toes at every leap. 
The rest of the boys laughed at him and called him back, and at 
last sat the dog on him; but he reached home, told his story and 
the credulous neighborhood was aroused again, and women ran 



662 OLD SETTLERS OF 

with their babies for the fort. Men were sent out to investigate 
the matter and at last learned the mistake. During all of this 
excitement the rangers moved from one fort to another, and 
when they camped at night they usually helped themselves to 
whatever they could find to eat, and the settlers were very will- 
ing they should. One of these rangers had a fondness for milk 
and would pick up a panful and say, " boys, this is what I was 
raised on," and drink it. During one dark evening he happened 
to pick up a pan of dish water ! The rest may be imagined. 

When Mr. John Henline came to this country he was lame, 
in consequence of a severe injury to his leg, and could not walk 
fast. He had a couple of rams which the boys had taught to be 
vicious, though the latter could always manage them. One 
morning the old gentleman came out in the yard and the vicious 
rams charged on him, and as he could not run he was obliged to* 
take refuge on a stump, and there called to his boys to take 
away the rams. But it is sad to record that these youngters 
were so neglectful of their duty and enjoyed so keenly the sport, 
that they allowed the old gentleman to remain on the stump 
until he said, " boys, I would n't serve you so," when they took 
away the rams. 

The Henline boys amused themselves in their youthful days 
by trapping turkeys. These foolish birds would walk into the 
traps with their heads down, eating corn, and would not know 
enough to put down their heads and walk out. Out of a flock 
of about thirty turkeys, only three knew enough to escape. 

The Henline boys went to school, of course, when a school 
was taught in the neighborhood, and they traveled through snow 
and rain and slush. During the sudden change in December, 
1836, they started from the school house, wading in slush knee 
deep, and before going far they " scooted over the ice like a top." 

In writing of the experience of David and William B. Hen- 
line, the things they saw in childhood are particularly given, 
because they were children in the early days. But many things 
of a very important nature are impressed on the minds of chil- 
dren, and from childish recollections we obtain actual, life-like 
impressions. The Henlines remember the wagons of the men 
who came over the country to speculate and buy land. The par- 
ties looking up land used the rudest but most iugeuious ways to 



m'lean county. 663 

learn its description. They hunted up the corners of sections, 
then traveled by compass, tied a rag to a wagon wheel, counted 
the revolutions, and by this means measured the distance. 

John Henline, the father of David and William, was born 
November 7, 1787, and died July 26, 1869. His wife Mary, was 
born January 22, 1791, and died November 28, 1865. 

David and William Henline are of about the same height, 
five feet and four or five inches. They have heavy whiskers and 
are very muscular. William is rather stouter in build. They 
are both good natured, kind hearted and hospitable, and love 
fun and humor. David Henline was married in the winter of 
1855, but his wife is now dead. William B. Henline married in 
June, 1853, Jane Wright, who died in 1861. Two children born 
of this marriage, John D. and Elmira A. Henline, live at home. 
On the 25th of February, 1866, W. B. Henline married Jane 
Moon, a woman who is kind in her manner and sensible in her 
conversation. 

Martin Henline. 

Martin Henline, brother of David and W. B. Henline, was 
born October 25, 1819, in Boone County, Kentucky. He lived 
there until the fall of 1828, when he came with the Henline 
family to Illinois. The family immediately began farming on 
their arrival, on what has since been called Henline Creek, in 
the northern edge of Mackinaw timber. 

Martin Henline, of course, remembers the deep snow of 
1830-1, and being then a little boy, he could run around on top 
of it. He remembers how his elder brother John drove up three 
deer from the pasture, when he went out to feed the pigs; for 
the wild nature of the deer was tamed by cold and starvation. 
It was no easy matter to obtain fuel to burn during that winter, 
and in order to get it the Henlines cut down trees and hauled 
them in by dragging them over the snow with oxen. 

During the Black Hawk war the Henline fort was the place 
where all the frightened settlers congregated, whenever they 
thought it worth while to take a scare. The Henlines had a 
large gun, which they called the " old yawger;" this gun made 
a loud report, and was known by the sound. At one time, while 
Martin was out in the woods with others at play, some parties 



664 OLD SETTLERS OF 

attempted to play a trick on him by firing the gun to bring him 
in for fear of Indians ; but Martin was too sharp, for he knew 
the report of the " old yawger." 

Martin Henline married, May 16, 1841, Feraby Cunningham. 
He has had ten children, of whom eight are living. They are : 

David and Seth Henline, who live about three miles east of 
their father's. 

Lucretia, wife of Harvey Harris, lives near David. 

Pierce, William, Joseph, Martha and Ella, live at home. 

Mr. Henline is somewhat below the medium height, is rather 
fleshy, has a round head, thick, black hair and heavy whiskers. 
He is a pleasant, humorous man, takes life easily, and does not 
trouble himself unnecessarily about the future. 

Martin Batterton. 

Martin Batterton was born September 29, 1807, in Madison 
County, Kentucky. His father, Abraham Batterton, was of 
English descent, and his mother, whose maiden name was Su- 
sannah Henline, was of Dutch. Abraham Batterton was, for, a 
short time, a soldier in the war of 1812, and served under Gene- 
ral Hopkins against the Indians. Martin Batterton lived in 
Kentucky, where he was born, until the fall of 1833, when he 
came to Illinois. He went to school in Kentucky, was a fair 
scholar, and paid strict attention to his book. In the fall of 1833 
he came out on horseback with a friend to Mackinaw timber, 
where his relatives, the Henlines, lived. In August, 1834, he 
went back to Kentucky, and brought out some carpenter's tools 
and other articles necessary in a new country. He became a 
jack-of-all-trades, and could make anything out of wood. He 
was farmer, carpenter, cooper, cabinetmaker, shoemaker, and, 
indeed, was handy at all things. He made his own chairs when 
he first came to the country and has them yet. In 1835 he 
entered the land where he now lives, having bought the improve- 
ment made on it by Nickolas Darnell, and on this land built the 
house in which he now resides. 

Mr. Batterton married America Taylor on the 10th of Octo- 
ber, 1836. They have had three children : 

Ira Abbott Batterton, who was a soldier during the rebellion 
in the Eighth Illinois Infantry, and afterwards editor of the 



m'lean county. 665 

Vicksburg Herald. He was accidentally shot in Vicksburg, in 
July, 1865. 

Mary Ellen, wife of Thomas B. Kilgour, lives about three 
miles east of her father's. 

Surrilda J., wife of Almaron J. Moon, lives in Lexington. 
Mr. Moon is of the mercantile firm of Smith & Moon. 

Mr. Batterton is rather less than the medium height. His 
hair, once dark, is now becoming gray. His eyes are dark, with 
a clear, intelligent expression, and his nose is a little Roman. 
He is a remarkably careful, accurate man in his business, and 
none of his property suiters for want of attention. His crops 
are always gathered in season ; his stock is seldom caught in a 
dangerous storm ; everything about the place is very neat. In 
other words, he is a careful, thrifty farmer, with a large farm 
and a big barn to shelter his stock. 



LEXINGTON. 

Jacob Spawr.. 

Jacob Spawr was born January 24, 1802, in Westmoreland 
County, Pennsylvania. His father's name was Valentine Spawr, 
and his mother's maiden name was Anna Margaret Richer. Val- 
entine Spawr was American born, but of German descent, and 
his wife, Anna Margaret, was born in Germany, but came to the 
United States when only two years of age. Valentine Spawr was 
a soldier and served under General Anthony "Wayne against the 
Indians, and was once wounded through the body. 

In the fall of 1826 Jacob Spawr came to Illinois, in company 
with the Cox family and Robert Guthrie. His father's family 
came the following year. The journey was pleasant and Mr. 
Spawr was active in driving the sheep and cattle. He went to 
Money Creek timber and there commenced working for Mrs. 
Trimmer, who had a large family of children. Her husband had 
died a short time previous. 

Jacob Spawr married, December 3, 1826, Eliza Ann Trimmer, 
one of the old lady's daughters. He had no license, as he would 
have been obliged to go to Vandalia to get one, so he posted 



666 OLD SETTLERS OF 

up notices and the justice of the peace, William Orendorff, who 
married him, made return of the marriage to the Clerk of the 
Court at Vandalia. Six or seven years afterwards Mr. Orendorff 
married a second wife, and Jacob Spawr, who had been elected a 
justice of the peace in the meantime, performed the ceremony. 
After Mr. Spawr's marriage he began farming on his own ac- 
count. 

In 1827 the settlers were much excited by the Winnebago 
war, which was threatened in the mining country by Reel Bird, 
the chief of the Winnebagoes. While the excitement continued 
old Machina, the chief of the Kickapoos, came down to Mr. 
Spawr to inquire the condition of affairs, whenever the latter re- 
turned from Bloomiiigton, where he went to militia training. 
Machina declared that in case of war the Kickapoos would cer- 
tainly help the whites. After a while an order came to send 
fifteen men, and Mr. Spawr, being first lieutenant of the com- 
pany, was ordered to go with them. But the Rev. Mr. Latta in- 
sisted on taking Mr. Spawr's place, and at last was allowed to do 
so. The fifteen men were taken to Peoria, but the Indian trou- 
bles were soon quieted, and the men came home. 

During the winter of the deep snow Mr. Spawr pounded corn 
of course. For nearly sixty days the sun did not shine warm 
enough to make a wet spot in front of his south door. During 
that winter a man named Rook came down from Rook's Creek 
(Little Vermilion) with a hanclsled, walking with snow-shoes, and 
obtained corn for his family of Conrad Flesher, who lived where 
Lexington now stands. 

During the Black Hawk war the people of Mackinaw and 
Money creek timber were excited and apprehensive, and many of 
them moved away to Sangamon County. Many men at Eppard's 
Point, on the Little Vermilion, moved their families to Money 
Creek and went back themselves to attend to their Crops. The 
volunteers from Indiana, about six hundred in number, camped 
within twenty or thirty rods of Mr. Spawr's house, and during 
the night had two false alarms. At one time a lightning bug 
showed its phosphorus, and one of the guards fired at the 
harmless insect, and the camp was in an uproar. But after a 
while matters were quieted. Soon another gun was discharged, 
and on inquiry it was found that a soldier, who had a pique 



m'lean county. 667 

against two others, had fired into their tent. The excitement 
among the soldiers was very great for a while, and one of them, 
while loading his gun, mistook a can of buttermilk for a powder 
horn, and loaded his gun accordingly. The soldiers wished Mr. 
Spawr to issue a warrant for the arrest of the man, who attempted 
to shoot his comrades, but Mr. Spawr told them that their own 
martial law should settle such matters. 

The town of Lexington was laid off in 18-35 ; and in 1836 Mr. 
Spawr moved there from Money Creek timber. It was during 
December of that year that the great sudden change of the 
weather occurred. Mr. Spawr then saw the water blown into 
waves and frozen in that way. He speaks of another sudden 
change almost as severe. In November, 1842, he started for Chi- 
cago with a party to drive stock. The weather had been mild, 
but it snowed and melted and by the seventh of November it 
froze up. On the return of the party from Chicago they crossed 
the Kankakee on the ice at the rapids, where the water runs as 
swiftly as a mill race. A thaw came in January, but the cold 
weather as;ain returned and winter continued until March. 

Mr. Spawr has had eight children, of whom six are living, all 
daughters: 

Ann Margaret, wife of Benjamin Fitzgerald, lives in Lexing- 
ton. 

Elizabeth, wife of Perceval Champlin, who lives in Lexing- 
ton. 

Mary Jane, wife of Abiud Sweet, lives at Eppard's Point in 
Livingston County. 

Sarah Catherine, wife of Noah Franklin, lives a mile and a half 
west of Lexington. 

Emily, wife of S. S. Shade, lives in Lexington. 

Lowisa Isabel, wife of C. 11. Preble, lives in Lexington. 

Mr. Spawr has twenty-one grandchildren and one great grand 
child — enough to eat up his surplus apples. 

Mr. Spawr is of medium height, is rather solidly built, and 
seems to be enjoying good health in his old age. He is a quiet 
man, is very kindly disposed, and much looked up to^among the 
old settlers. He leads a very quiet, contented life, though he 
works enough to keep himself healthy. He is a man universally 
respected for his integrity and correct judgment. 



668 OLD SETTLERS OF 



George Spawr. 

George Spawr, son of Valentine Spawr, was born December 
26, 1806, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 
1827, he came to Illinois with the Spawr family, except two sisters, 
who never came, and also except Jacob and his sister, Mrs. Cath- 
erine Guthrie, who came the year before. When they came to 
the Indiana wilderness of heavy timber, they met with a lot of 
teams, and all joined and went through the wilderness together, 
in order to be protected against a band of robbers, by whom it 
was infested. The travellers camped one night in the wilderness 
and were visited by a suspicious character, but they detailed seven 
men to watch the camp and were not molested. In the morning 
their unwelcome visitor left. 

After they crossed the Wabash liiver and came to the prairie 
they mired down in the first slough ; but they soon learned the 
nature of the sloughs and drove through them quickly without 
stopping long enough to become fast in the mire. They found 
the worst slough at Cheney's Grove. But by good management 
and quick driving the Spawr family came safely through without 
assistance. The Cheneys took care of them that night and showed 
the greatest hospitality, and made no charge for favors rendered. 
The next day the Spawr family took the Indian trail and went on 
to Money Creek timber, where they settled. 

The next year Mr. Spawr began to raise a crop of corn, but 
sold out and went with Jonathan Cheney to the lead mines to 
make a fortune, but returned the next fall without the fortune. 
Then he started with Isaac Funk, who was taking a drove of 
cattle to Ohio, but the cattle were stampeded by wolves, and the 
trip to Ohio was spoiled. He then helped to take care of the 
Cheneys, who were sick with the measles, and became sick him- 
self and lived on milk-punch. (Who wouldn't have the measles!) 

Mr. Spawr married, March 19, 1831, Ehoda Walden. 

In the spring of 1832 occurred the Black Hawk war. Mr. 
Spawr enlisted in a company of rangers commanded by Merrit 
Covel, after the fight at Stillman's Run. .It was the business of 
the rangers to guard the country from the Mackinaw to Ottawa. 
The people were much disturbed by false alarms and regular 
frights. At one time two men, Isaac T and Mat F , went 



m'lean county. 669 

to Bloomington, the former mounted on his fleet horse and the 
latter on an Endian pony, which he found hoppled near by. On 
their return they passed where the town of Normal now stands. 
There they saw some blood on the ground. It was where Isaac 
Funk had bled his horse on account of some sickness, which the 
animal had contracted. But Isaac and Mat knew nothing of the 
real cause, but supposed immediately that sonic one had there 
been murdered by Indians, and that the savages had already com- 
menced the work of slaughter and destruction. The men 
whipped up their horses and went across the prairie, and saw the 
tall rosin weeds waving in the wind and thought each one was an 
Indian after them. Isaac, being better mounted, ran far ahead, 
and Mat, who was behind, called out, ""Wait for me, Isaac !" and 
the reply came back, "Whip the pony, Mat!" At last they ar- 
rived home, and Mat mounted one of his own fleet horses and said : 
" Father and mother, I respect you, I respect you above every- 
body else, but I must leave you, I must go to Ohio, and must be 
at Cheney's Grove to. night!*' When he arrived at Cheney's 
Grove, he was laughed out of his fright. At one time the neigh- 
borhood took a great scare ; some thought they saw Indian signs, 
and others imagined that they saw in the distance the smoke 
arising from Indian camps. The rangers were called out, and 
they hunted through the timber, displaying the most excellent 
training, and at last found the* track of a pig ! During that even- 
ing the settlers collected at the house of John Henline near the 
head of Mackinaw timber. The rangers also came there, and 
during the night George Spawr and Henry Davis were instructed 
to raise a false alarm in order to test the pluck of the men. 
Spawr and Davis were placed on picket. Spawr says : "Just be- 
fore we were relieved, I called out, '"Who's there, who's there, 
who's there V and fired my gun and ran to the house, yelling 
'Injins' at every jump !" The men at the house turned out, some 
with guns and some not, and all were in disorder. Captain Covel 
was SAvearing and the women were making a great ado. A squad 
of men were placed in charge of the guard and they went out, 
and the wicked Spawr slipped off his shoe and made a track, 
which was pronounced "Injin sign," and the panic was greater 
than ever. One of the men at the house was so stricken with 
fear that he gave up his gun and jumped into bed behind his 



670 OLD SETTLERS OF 

wife. Tlie guards who were posted were relieved, and one of 
them was found trying- to catch his horse to get away, another 
was found lying flat on his face, hoping that in the darkness of 
the night he would escape the general massacre ! . The next 
morning a voice was heard calling : "Who jumped in bed behind 

his wife?" An answering voice replied: "T F." It was 

indeed true that the frightened man had run to the house, and 
old Mrs. Henline had kept him out. At last old Joseph Brum- 
head said : "I wish I had a gun, I wish I hud a gun !" "Here, 
uncle Joe," said the frightened man, "here's a gun." Mr. Brum- 
head, who was a very religious man, took it, saying : "I am not 
afraid to fight, and die, if need be, so help me Lord, for Christ's 
sake !" The man, having given up his gun, was allowed to come 
into the house where he jumped into bed behind his wife. 

A fort was built at the house of the Henlines, and another at 
the Little Vermilion. JSTot long afterwards, while some of the 
rangers were picking strawberries, George Spawr and William 
Dimmitt fired off their guns to give the men a scare. The joke 
was successful, for the frightened rangers ran plashing through 
the Vermilion, and on three miles to the fort. The neighborhood 
was again alarmed, men were hurrying to and fro, and women 
were riding with their infants in their arms, in every direction. 
The rangers continned reconnoitering until the Black Hawk war 
was ended. 

In the summer of 1837 George Spawr went to Franklin 
County, Illinois, where he lived until the fall of 1863. Franklin 
County had been settled by men from the south ; and during the 
rebellion they were so much in favor of the rebel cause, and 
made so many threats against Union men, that in the fall of 
1863 George Spawr went back to his old home in Mackinaw tim- 
ber, and now lives in Lexington. 

Mr. Spawr has had ten children, of whom six are living. 
They are : 

Charles Wesley Spawr, who lives about two miles from Belle- 
flower. He was in the 110th Illinois Volunteers during the war 
and served under Sherman. 

Mary Jane, widow of Terry Scarlock, lives at Pleasant Hill. 
Mr. Scarlock had been a soldier. 

Dr. Braxton Benton Spawr lives in Franklin County, where 
he practices medicine and dentistry. 



m'lean county. 671 

Dr. Elijah Valentine Spawr lives in Mackinawtown, in Taze- 
well County. He was a soldier in the Eighteenth Illinois Vol- 
unteers. 

William Walker Spawr lives in Farmer City. He was in the 
three months' service during the rebellion, and in 1865 he re-en- 
listed. 

Margaret Malinda was married to Charley Kemp and lives in 
Bloomington. 

Mr. Spawr is about five feet and ten inches in height, and 
weighs one hundred and eighty-four pounds. He has a round, 
healthy face, and his eyes have an honest, open expression, but 
one can see the love of practical jokes in them. His hair stands 
up decidedly on his head. He has been a mechanic for thirty 
years, and still works at his trade. He gets up early in the 
morning and goes to work on time. He is very jovial and loves 
to talk over the adventures of other days. It does him good to 
laugh at the funny scenes which happened when the people in 
Mackinaw timber took their periodical frights. 

Joseph Brumhead. 

Joseph Brumhead came to the West with the Haner family, 
in 1828. Before coming to the West he married Catherine Haner 
in Ohio. He settled, on his arrival from Ohio, in Mackinaw 
timber, near old John Haner's place, a little west of where John 
Haner, jr., now lives. Mr. Brumhead was a very religious man, 
and was, for many years, a member of the Methodist Church. 
He belonged to this denomination when he came to Mackinaw 
timber, and was one of the eight members who organized the 
first Methodist Church in McLean County north of Bloomington. 
This was in 1830. He was a class-leader for nearly a year after 
its organization. He was then made a licensed exhorter, and went 
to the different groves and held meetings. He was not an edu- 
cated man, but was possessed of great natural ability. 

The Indians were cmite numerous before the winter of the 
deep snow. At one time Mr. Brumhead had a horse, which was 
bitten by an Indian pony, and was much annoyed. Mr. Brum- 
head tied the pony to a tree with a log chain. After a while its 
Indian owner came for it, and when he found it fastened with the 



672 OLD SETTLERS OF 

log chain he walked around it carefully, and at last came to the 
conclusion that "he no get loose." Mr. Brumhead at last gave 
the Indian the pony. 

Mr. Brumhead was a very courageous man. During the 
Black Hawk war, while the settlers were collected at the house 
of John Henline, for fear of trouble with the Indians, Mr. Brum- 
head was one of the coolest and most collected among them. His 
religious feeling bore him up always, and during the Indian 
troubles he seemed to feel no fear, for he trusted his life to the 
keeping of Divine Providence. He died in the year 1838, and 
his wife died a week after him. Their death resulted from eating 
unhealthy meat. Two of their children are living. The eldest 
son, John Wesley Brumhead, was the first white child born on 
the Mackinaw. His birth was in 1829. He now lives on the 
north of the Mackinaw, and is an incorrigible bachelor. The 
second son, Anderson S. Brumhead, lives in Blue Mound town- 
ship. He does not believe in a bachelor's life, and has married a 
very amiable and attractive lady. 

Hensox B. Doavxey. 

Henson B. DoAvney Avas born August 2(3, 1817, in Frederick 
County, Maryland. His father was Alexander DoAvney, and his 
mother's name before her marriage Avas Mary Tucker. He Avas 
partly of Scotch and Welch descent. In about the A'ear 1828 he 
came with the family to Illinois. He grew up in the West, and 
Patrick Hopkins says of him during his youth and early man- 
hood : " He Avas about as high a chicken as you could scare up." 

On the 7th of April, 1839, he married Phebe Brumhead, 
youngest daughter of Joseph Brumhead. She died March 16, 
1852. The children by this marriage Avere James ~N. DoAvney, 
who lives in the northern part of Blue Mound township ; Emily, 
wife of Henry Walden, lives in the northern part of Blue Mound ; 
J. Henson DoAvney also lives in Blue Mound, and his brother, 
Allen T. DoAvney, lives with him. 

On the 24th of July, 1852, Mr. DoAvney married Lowisa Ellen 
Hand. The children by this marriage are Merritt R., William 
A., Mary, Ann Elizabeth, John W., Frank E., Lu Elle, Henry 
Benjamin and Harvey E. DoAvney. Of these, William A., Mary 



m'lean county. 673 

and John "W". Downey, are dead. The living children are with 
their mother on the homestead place, in Lexington township, on 
the south of the Mackinaw. 

Henson B. Downey died dune 29, 1871. He was a member 
of the Methodist Church for fifteen or twenty years previous to 
his death, and held the positions of steward, class-leader, exhorter 
and all the stations on the official hoard. He was a very high- 
spirited man, and had a quick temper, which frequently was the 
cause of difficulty with his friends. But he would always apolo- 
gize for his anger and try to make amends. 

John Haner. 

John Haner was born July 3, 1819, in Fayette County, Ohio. 
His father's name was William Haner, and his mother's name 
was Jane Steel. His father was of Dutch descent and his mother 
of Irish. John Haner lived in Fayette County, Ohio, until he 
was eight years of age, when the family came to Sangamon 
County, Illinois. After living here one year they came to Macki- 
naw timber, in the present township of Lexington, in the present 
county of McLean. This was in the fall of 1828. They went to 
farming immediately, and had the usual hard times, which the 
old settlers experienced. In December, 1830, the day before the 
deep snow, they obtained a large quantity of corn-meal and fiour 
from Cunningham's mill, and it was supposed to be sufficient to 
last all winter ; but it was only enough for a short time, as they 
supplied the neighbors, who could not go to mill. After it was 
gone the} 7 pounded corn, and sometimes took it over to old John 
Patton's hand-mill and ground it there. Many of the families in 
the neighborhood suffered severely during the deep snow. Not 
long before the deep snow, Mr. Harrison Foster sold his claim, 
went to a new piece of ground and built a cabin. The clapboard 
roof was put on, but the cabin was only partly chinked, and the 
chimney was built no higher than the mantle-piece. When the 
deep snow came it nearly covered the cabin on the outside, and 
nearly filled it on the inside. The bed in which Foster slept had 
upon it a foot of snow. He arose in the morning and could not 
put on his moccasins, but drew on his socks and walked nearly a 
mile and a half down the Mackinaw, on the ice, to his brother's 
house. The two brothers then went back to brine; away the 
43 



674 OLD SETTLERS OF 

family. Sarah Foster was carried on the back of her Uncle 
William. She clutched hold of his coat, and when they arrived 
at the hitter's house she could not loosen her hold, as her fingers 
were frozen stiff, and had to be pulled open. The skin on the 
ends of her fingers and the nails afterwards came off. 

During the fall before the deep snow, Charles and John Cox 
came to Mackinaw timber and put up a log cabin, but as they 
had no out-buildings, they kept their pigs in one part of the cabin 
during the winter, while the family lived in the other, a slab par- 
tition separating them. William Haner, quite as careful, kept 
his chickens and sheep in the cellar. During that severe winter 
the Haners had a six-acre patch of shocked corn, and the wind 
whistled around the shocks, sometimes leaving bare places. When 
the snow came, a calf was caught in it near one of these shocks, 
and lived there all winter, the Haners bringing it water; but its 
ears were frozen off. During that winter the deer came up 
among the stock and ate with them. The wolves became saucy, 
impudent and troublesome, and often came to the house and 
snatched and ran off with what the}' could find. One of these 
animals made its home in a shock of corn, but Haner's dog 
brought it out of those quarters and killed it. At one time a 
rather awkward mistake occurred. A wolf came up to Joseph 
Brumhead's house, and he chased it with a shoe-hammer along a 
path leading to William Haner's, and called to the latter to come 
out. Haner did so, and hissed on his dog ; but the dog mistook 
the object of the excitement and grabbed an ox by the nose, and 
the astonished animal whirled around and sent the dog against 
Haner, and the two went rolling into the snow. But Haner re- 
covered himself in a moment and pointed out the wolf, which 
was soon brought down. In the fall of 1831, William Haner 
built a horse-mill on the Mackinaw. A few years later, John 
Haner, sr., the father of the former, built a water-mill, and for 
many years Haner's mills ground the wheat and corn for a* large 
section of country around. 

John Haner, jr., of whom we are writing, tells some interest- 
ing matters concerning the Black Hawk war. During that ex- 
citing time the settlers collected at the house of John Henline. 
While there a great scare occurred, and it was thought that the 
Indians had come. The people in the house were ordered away 



m'lean county. 675 

from the walls to let the soldiers Lave a chance to shoot, and the 
children were pitched into the middle of the floor. John Haner, 
then a child, was one of the youngsters who were so roughly hand- 
led. But at last the men with their guns took the outside of the 
house. The excitement lasted until nearly morning. The Iianer 
family remained at the Henllne house for nearly a week, then 
came home, remained two weeks, then took another alarm and 
went to Bloomington, and stayed at the house of Mr. Goodheart. 

Many practical jokes were played by the settlers during the 
Bhuk Hawk troubles. George Spawr played a wicked trick upon 
his father, Valentine Spawr. Whhile the old gentleman was ab- 
sent, George tied strings around his feet and walked around the 
house, leaving tracks resembling those made by Indian mocca- 
sins ; then he shot a few bullet-holes through the door and left. 
The old gentleman came home, saw the bullet-holes and tracks, 
and the more he looked at them the more his hair began to rise. 
At last he started on the run for the Henline fort, and as he was 
rather fleshy his movements were by no means graceful. While 
he was crossing a creek near by on a high log, the wicked George 
tired a gun. This caused the old gentleman to make a misstep, 
and he fell into the water. But he scrambled out and went to 
the fort. Notwithstanding his scare, the cheery old gentleman 
did not lose heart, but congratulated himself that, though in his 
fall he had " got his lower body wet, he had kept his upper body 
dry." 

The youthful sons and daughters of the early settlers of course 
had their affairs of the heart ; but as they worked very hard they 
had little time to think of such matters, and did not attend to 
them in the way their sons and daughters have learned to do 
since. It is said that Moses Patton once traveled twelve miles to 
visit the daughter of Mr. Allen, in Old Town timber. He sat 
up with her until midnight, but could scarcely master courage to 
say a word. At last he turned to her and said in a scarey way ; 
" I s'pose you think I'm a long time a com-men-cin !" She made 
some evasive answer, and after a while he retired for the night. 
The next morning he asked if he might call again, and she re- 
plied, that " if he had no more to say the next time, she hardly 
thought it would be worth while for him to come twelve miles to 
tell it !" 



676 OLD SETTLERS OF 

John Haner married, May 28, 1839, Miss Caroline Bull, who 
was born in Indiana, and came to Illinois in the fall of 1837. 
They have had eight children, of whom seven are living, and 
three are married. They are : 

Esther Jane, wife of Herbert Cool, lives in Keelsville, Chero- 
kee County, Kansas. 

Mary Ellen, wife of Thomas Davis, lives in Blue Mound 
township. 

William Haner lives in Cherokee County, Kansas. 

Merritt Steel, Jessie Edwin, Charles Luther and Maggie May 
(the pet), all live at home. 

John Haner is six feet in height, has rather a broad face and 
bluish-gray eyes. He seems a very modest man, has a peaceable 
disposition, and is, no doubt, on the best terms with his neigh- 
bors. The humorous stories which he has related show that the 
love of fun is strong within him, and his amiable and accom- 
plished lady is not far behind him in this respect. He is a man 
of good development of muscle, and has never been afraid to 
work. He has been very successful in life and manages his prop- 
erty well. 

Benjamin Wiley Patton. 

Benjamin Patton was born June 18, 1817, in Kentucky, in 
Garret County (he thinks). His father's name was John Patton, 
and his mother's maiden name was Margaret Wiley. John Pat- 
ton was of Irish descent, and his wife was probably of English 
and Welch. He was quite a genius, and master of a number of 
trades and professions. He was a farmer, mechanic, gunsmith 
and blacksmith. He made ploughs, both the iron work and the 
wood work, and made household furniture, all that was necessary 
for the family. He was a professor of religion and a member of 
the Methodist Church, and his house at Mackinaw timber was a 
preaching place for many years. 

When Benjamin Patton was less than a year old, his parents 
left Kentucky, where he was born, and came to Switzerland 
County, Indiana, and ffl there remained until they came to Illinois, 
which was in the fall of 1828. They came with two teams (two 
yoke of oxen and four horses). Benjamin was obliged to walk 
and drive the cattle, and as he wore light shoes, the exercise 



m'lean county. 677 

chafed Ms feet so severely that his two great toe-nails came off. 
The family arrived at Old Town timber in November, and went 
into an old round log house, without chinking or chimney, and 
there remained during the winter. Mr. Patton, sr., cut logs to 
build a house at Buckles' Grove, but changed his mind as to his 
location, and went to Mackinaw timber. There the Patton family 
lived for a while in a deserted wigwam of the old Indian town. 
It was a queer structure, built up on all sides, with a hole in the 
top for the smoke of a fire inside to pass out. 

Benjamin Patton has experienced the hardships common to 
the old settlers. He married, October 13, 1839, Mary Ann Con- 
over. He has had no children. He is full six feet in height, is 
rather spare in build. He appears to have succeeded very well 
in life. 

Patrick Hopkins. 

Patrick Hopkins was born June 11, 1799, in Sussex County, 
Delaware. His father's name was Robert Hopkins, and his 
mother's maiden name was Nancy Spence. His father was of 
"Welch descent and his mother of Scotch. His father was a 
farmer, plain and unassuming in his manner, though rather im- 
posing in appearance, as he weighed about two hundred and 
twenty pounds. Mrs. Hopkins, the mother of Patrick, was a 
smart, energetic, little woman. So far as her person was con- 
cerned, she would hardly bear down the scales against her hus- 
band, as she only weighed ninety-four pounds. But what she 
lacked in size she made up in spirit and energy. She was a good 
deal of a theologian and would discuss religious matters with any 
one who chose to test her argumentative powers. She and her 
husband were both members of the Methodist Church. There 
were nine children of the Hopkins family, five boys and four 
girls ; they all lived to be grown and, like their parents, have led 
an unassuming and retired life. 

In 1806, the Hopkins family went to Woodford County, Ken- 
tucky. There Robert Hopkins bought a farm and lived on it 
until 1814. 

Patrick Hopkins had few opportunities of obtaining an educa- 
tion, and he has been obliged to make his way in the world with 
the benefit of only forty days schooling. 



678 OLD SETTLERS OF 

In the fall of 1814, the Hopkins family moved to Clark 
County, Indiana, among the deer, bear and Indians. In 1817, 
Patrick went to Georgetown, Kentucky, to learn the bricklaying 
trade. In 1820, he came back to Clark county and married Mary 
Bartholomew. During the following year, he moved to Owen 
County, where he laid brick and worked a small farm. In 1830, 
he came with his wife and four children to the head waters of the 
Mackinaw, in what was then Tazewell County, Illinois. He 
raised a cabin and in the following year broke prairie for a farm. 
He lived very quietly until 1832, when the Black Hawk war 
broke out. In those days, the settlers were liable to take a scare 
at any moment, as it was very hard to obtain correct news from 
the seat of war. One of the neighbors, named Bartholomew, an 
old Indian fighter and formerlj' a soldier in Wayne's army, ad- 
vised the settlers to build a fort, which they did on the place 
where John B. Dawson now lives. On the day before the settlers 
collected in the fort, Mr. Hopkins was alarmed b}~ the barking of 
dogs and thought the Indian's had certainly come, but concluded 
to tight not only for his family but also for his horses, and took 
his gun and went to the barn ; but the alarm was false. On the 
following day, the families of the settlers went to the fort, and 
Mr. Hopkins went with a company collected by Mr. Bartholomew 
to Indian Grove, where the Kickapoos were encamped, to see 
whether the latter were disposed to be hostile. The Indians had 
just returned from their winter quarters and were very friendly. 
They were, when the whites arrived, collecting food, and in the 
evening came to camp with all kinds of game, from a snipe to a 
raccoon. They treated the whites with great courtesy, took 
charge of their horses, put strong halters on them, and set two 
men to guard them through the night. The party that evening 
witnessed some religious ceremonies, which were carried on by 
Indians who were converted to Christianity. All were seated on 
the ground, except the leader, and they sang and exhorted for a 
long time. At last the leader took his seat, and then occurred a 
singular ceremony. An Indian stepped forward and asked to be 
whipped for the sins he had committed during the week, and 
drew his garment over his head, exposing his bare back. Four- 
teen stripes were given him by three Indians nearby, with smooth 
hickory rods about three feet long. The stripes were received 



m'lean county. 679 

without a movement to indicate pain. This example was fol- 
lowed by fifty others, who received fourteen or twenty-eight 
stripes laid on with such force thai any one of them left a mark. 
The stripes were administered by three Indians. When fourteen 
stripes were called for, the first Indian gave seven, the second 
four and the last three. When twenty-eighl stripes were called 
for, the first Indian gave fourteen, the second seven and the last 
seven. When each applicant for stripes had been whipped, he 
turned around and shook hands with the men who bore the rods. 
The interpreter told the whites, who were looking on, that these 
stripes were given because of disobedience to the commands of 
the Great Spirit during the week. 

In the spring of 1833 he put up a log cabin in Lexington 
township, on the farm now known as the Lemuel Biggs place. 
When he first moved into it, his chickens roosted on the partly 
built wooden chimney. One evening, while he was holding fam- 
ily worship, an owl took a chicken from the chimney ; but as the 
fowl was heavy, both birds came down in the yard. Mr. Hopkins 
says : "I won't say how long I continued the prayer, but it was 
short. I reached for my gun, glanced along the sights, shot the 
owl by good luck and released the chicken." 

The settlers went sometimes long distances to get their mill- 
ing done, and were frequently gone eight or ten days. Mr. Hop- 
kins went to Cheney's Grove, and afterwards to Fox River above 
Ottawa. At one time he went to mill at Ottawa with William Pope- 
joy. The latter was a very fair-minded man, but it stirred up liis 
anger if he was imposed on in any way. Mr. Hopkins, on the 
contrary, would "rather suffer evil than do evil." They were 
obliged to stay over night at the mill, while waiting for their grist. 
During the night Mr. Popejoy waked up Mr. Hopkins, saying : 
"Hopkins, Hopkins, get up, get up, that other man has given the 
miller fifty cents to grind his grist before ours, and we will miss 
our connections to-morrow if that is done." Mr. Hopkins 
aroused himself reluctantly, and Fopejoy brought up their corn 
to put into the hopper as soon as it became empty. "You can't 
put in that corn," said the miller. "Yes I will." "Xo you won't, 
unless you are a better man than I am." When Popejoy heard 
this, his coat dropped from his shoulders as he stepped up, say- 
ing: "I never vet failed to whip a mean man." The miller 



680 OLD SETTLERS OF 

stepped around on the other side of the hopper ! The corn was 
ground on time, and Popejoy and Hopkins made their connec- 
tions. 

Mr. Hopkins' wife died August 29, 1839. She was a very 
kind lady and their marriage was a happy one. They had five 
children, one of whom was born in Illinois. They are two sons 
and three daughters, and are all married. Mr. Hopkins married, 
November 15, 1847, near Pleasant Hill, Matilda Smith, daughter 
of William and Obedience Smith. They have had no children. 
The} r have lived together very happily. In 1867 Air. Hopkins 
moved to Lexington, where he has resided ever since. 

Patrick Hopkins is five feet and eleven and a half inches in 
height. He has a full head of hair, which is now nearly white. 
He wears glasses while reading, though the sight of his right eye 
is very good. He lost the use of his left eye in 1842, when it 
was struck by a branch of a tree while he was going through the 
timber. His health is now pretty good, though he has suffered 
a great deal from the bilious fevers common to the western coun- 
try in early days. He has not had extraordinary success finan- 
cially, as the goodness of his heart has too often induced him to 
become security for men whose obligations he has been obliged 
to pay. Nevertheless he has plenty to make him comfortable, 
and is in the happy condition of the man who has neither poverty 
nor riches. 

Mr. Hopkins died February 21st, 1874. 

Peter Hefner. 

Peter Hefner, known as "Uncle Peter," was born April 20, 
1813, in what was called Pendleton County, Virginia, but is now 
called Highland County. His father's name was Michael Hefner 
and his mother's name before her marriage was Barbara Flesher. 
The Hefner family moved to Fayette County, Ohio, when Peter 
was between two and three years of age. As soon as the latter 
became five or six years of age he showed a disposition for rais- 
ing stock, and attended to the feeding of the animals, and took 
notice of all the transactions in stock. This little five-year old 
infant knew of every cow, pig or sheep bought or sold in the 
neighborhood and the prices paid. In 1830 the Hefner family 
moved to Mackinaw timber, Illinois. 



m'lean county. 681 

When the family came to this country Mr. Hefner received a 
tine colt as a present from his father. It was carefully raised and 
trained, and became the celebrated Tiger Whip, one of the fastest 
horses in the country. This horse onee ran a race, in which were 
a number of line racers, and among- them was Bald Hornet, rid- 
den by E. E. Greenman, now of Leroy. Tiger "Whip won the 
race triumphantly. Greenman thought that if fair play could 
have been had, the Bald Hornet would have come out first best ; 
but the trouble was that Tiger Whip ran faster. Mr. Hefner 
once rode Tiger Whip on a queer race. While coming home 
from Bloomington he chased a prairie chicken, and notwith- 
standing its long flights he tired it out and caught it. After Mr. 
Hefner had won some money by the speed of his horse, his 
uncle Flesher said he considered it a misfortune, for the money 
obtained in that way would never do any good, and Providence 
would be sure to bring some misfortune upon Peter, and the lat- 
ter would learn to drink whisky and to gamble, and would fall 
into evil ways generally. But nothing of the kind occurred ; the 
latter never drank the intoxicating fluid nor gambled nor fell 
into evil ways. 

Mr. Hefner went to mill occasionally. He once went to Che- 
ney's Grove with a load of twenty-five bushels of wheat. There 
he succeeded in getting two or three bushels ground, but no more 
for want of water. Then he went to a new steam mill, which 
was then just in operation in Bloomington, and there two or three 
bushels more were ground. Then he went to a mill on the 
Mackinaw, but could get nothing ground at all. Then he went 
to Ottawa with a full load, and after waiting a week or more, his 
•wheat was ground. 

The author is sorry to relate that Mr. Hefner has been occa- 
sionally "up to his capers." John Messer was once going to mill 
and was asleep in his wagon, as his slowly moving oxen were 
plodding along. Peter Hefner and a few other sports made mo- 
tions at the oxen and gradually turned them around and started 
them in the opposite direction. They went a mile or more on 
the back track before Messer discovered the error. He never 
forgave Peter for this prank. 

The settlers were many times in want of the necessaries of 
life. The Hefner family once thought themselves in luck when 



682 OLD SETTLERS OF 

they obtained the half of a wild hog by active hunting, but they 
had no salt for cooking it, and Peter started for some. He went 
to Dry Grove, failed there, went to John Benson's at White Oak 
Grove, and there found salt and came home, and the Hefner fam- 
ily had a few "square meals." 

The pigs that were raised by the early settlers were " prairie 
rooters." They could root up anything with their long noses, 
climb anything and run anywhere. The Hefner family were once 
short of meat in harvest time, and the old gentleman decided to 
kill the only pig they possessed. He said : "Boys ,you shall have 
some meat for supper," and sharpened his knife for the bloody 
work, and started for the pen. The intelligent pig saw what was 
coming, and as the old gentleman climbed into the pen on one 
side the pig climbed out on the other and ran off switching de- 
fiance with its tail ! The old gentleman was left to meditate on 
the uncertainties of life, and the pig was not found for six 
months. 

Mr. Hefner had his experience in the deep snow. When the 
heavy snow fell in December of the celebrated winter of 1830-1 
he was coming with two others from the house of Louis Sowards 
on Money Creek, with a load of corn and a hog on a sled, drawn 
by four horses. They were so blinded by the falling snow that 
they could not see the lead horses, and they unhitched and rode 
back to Sowards. There they kept warm during the night by 
building a great fire, though the weather was intensely cold, 
and the cabin was unchinked. In the morning they returned 
home safely. 

Traveling in the early days was not always safe, as may be 
supposed. Air. Hefner tells of a trip to Danville, to show the' 
difference between the old days and the new. He went first to 
Newcom's Ford, where he was followed by a pack of wolves. 
There he stayed over night, and the wolves were so ferocious and 
bold that they drove the dogs into the house. The next day he 
crossed two sloughs, and in each case was obliged to wade waist 
deep in freezing water and break the ice for his horse. On his 
return he swam the Sangamon at Newcom's Ford, and as the 
weather was bitterly cold and a west wind was blowing, he 
thought he had a good chance of freezing to death ; but he 
reached a settler's cabin, thawed himself out and went home. 



m'lean county. 683 

At one place where Mr. Hefner stopped, about sixteen miles 
this side of Danville, was a clever, good-natured gentlemen, old 
General Bartholomew. Peter Hefner, being an active lad, 
brought up the general's horse, and the latter was so pleased 
by the little favor that he paid Hefner's bill. When Hef- 
ner inquired the bill the landlord said nothing. The old general, 
who was looking on, said: "Well, sir, now I learn the custom of 
this road; the man who eats thirteen buckwheat cakes for break- 
fast, has his bill free !" 

Peter Hefner married, March 27, 1833, Betsy Flesher. He 
has had nine children, of whom five are living. They are : 

Harmon, who lives on the old place on Mackinaw, in Money 
Creek township. 

Mary, wife of J. P. Curry, lives in Lexington. 

Adeline, wife of John Campbell, lives in Lexington township. 

John A. and George M. Hefner live in Money Creek town- 
ship. 

Mr. Hefner is about six feet in height, weighs two hundred 
and thirty-five or forty pounds, has black hair and dark eyes, is 
plain spoken and fond of humor and practical jokes. In Janu- 
ary, 1870, he moved from Mone} T Creek to Lexington. He was 
always a hospitable man and never charged travelers anything. 
But afterwards he varied a little from this rule and made peddlers 
"come down with their stamps." Mr. Hefner is a man of great 
strength and nerve, and the exposure of a frontier life has not 
injured his constitution in the least. He is a straightforward man 
in his dealings and prompt to meet his engagements. 

John Dawson, (of Lexington.) 

There are two John Dawsons in McLean County; the one 
lives in Bloomington and the other in Lexington. They are not 
related to each other, because they happen to be John Dawsons, 
any more than if they happened to be John Smiths; though the 
relationship of either would be an honor, for they are both gen- 
tlemen. John Dawson was born December 4, 1820, in Madison 
County, Ohio. His father's name was James R. Dawson and was 
of English and Welch descent. The great, great grandfather of 
John Dawson was one James Dawson, who came from Wales, 
and settled on the north fork of the Potomac in Virginia. This 



684 OLD SETTLERS OF 

gentleman was married twice and had sixteen children by each 
marriage, making thirty-two in all. At the time of his death, 
his youngest child was twenty-four years of age, and the old 
gentleman was himself one hundred and twenty-eight years old. 
His thirty-two children were all living at the time of his death. 
His death occurred while he was moving about, carrying corn to 
his horses, in which he took great pride. This liking for horses 
has ever been a characteristic of the Dawson family. 

The grandfather of John Dawson was born in Virginia, 
moved to Kentucky at an early day, and was there killed by 
Indians. 

The father of John Dawson was James R. Dawson, who was 
born October 10, 1794, in Bourbon County, Kentucky. At the 
age of fifteen he left Kentucky and went to Ohio, and there mar- 
ried Mary Ogden in the year 1816. She was a lady of English 
and Irish descent. On the 26th of September, 1832, the Dawson 
family came to Mackinaw timber, McLean County, Illinois. 
There the old gentleman bought three eighties of land and began 
farming. During the fall after their arrival the Dawsons, senior 
and junior, made a visit to Chicago and there saw General Scott 
and the troops and cannon brought on account of the Black 
Hawk war. 

John Dawson was particularly skillful in killing wolves, and 
pretty sure to finish one at a single stroke of his club. He 
describes the manner in which a dog catches a wolf in the chase. 
The dog takes the wolf by the hind legs, while both are running 
at full speed; this throws the wolf from its feet, and the dog 
catches it by the throat before it can recover from the fall. Some- 
times dog and wolf will turn a complete somersault in the air. 
The vicious wolves were put to death in the most convenient 
way. Mr. Dawson killed one by thrashing it on the ground. 
John Ogden once came up to a wolf, which was whipping his 
dog, threw a blanket over the wolf and pounded it to death with 
his fist. 

John Dawson married, February 25, 1844, Araminta Adams. 
He has had eight children, four boys and four girls, but only two 
are living. These are: 

Thomas A. Dawson, who lives on a farm on the northeast 
corner of Lexington. 



m'lean county. 685 

Orlando Francis Dawson lives at home with his father. 

John Dawson is six feet and an inch and a-half in height and 
weighs one hundred and ninety-live pounds. He is very mus- 
cular and is good natured and kind in his manner. He is a man 
of steady nerve and understands what he is doing, no matter 
how much excitement is raised. He is a most conscientious 
man, both in his religious opinions and in his dealings with his 
fellow men. 

The following are the children of James R. Dawson, the 
father of John Dawson : 

Albert Dawson, who lives on the south side of the Mackinaw, 
about two miles from Lexington. 

John, whose sketch appears above. 

Croghan and Samuel, live in Lexington. 

Cynthia, wife of Shadrach Kemp, lives in Kansas, near Fort 
Scott. 

Margaret, wife of William Roe, lives in Lexington. 

"Washington and James Marion Dawson are twins and live in 
Chenoa township. 

The children by J. R. Dawson's second marriage, with Mrs. 
Sarah Robbins, are : 

Lafayette Dawson, who lives in Missouri. 

Philander and Mary, wife of Daniel Underwood, live in 
Lexington. 

Croghan Dawson. 

Croghan Dawson, son of James R. Dawson, was born October 
10, 1822. When he was ten years of age, the family started for 
the West, and arrived at Money Creek timber, September 26, 
1832. They went to Mackinaw timber about the first of Decem- 
ber, 1832. He there worked for his father until the age of twenty, 
when he began the work of farming and catching wolves. In 
the latter occupation he went into partnership with his brother 
John. They had great sport and were pretty sure to bring down 
their game. If a dozen men were after a wolf, either John or 
Croghan was pretty sure to get the scalp. He has killed wolves 
with steel traps and with strychnine. The latter was most effec- 
tual. In one winter he killed twenty-six wolves with this poison. 



686 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Croghan Dawson has also had his sport in chasing deer, and par- 
ticularly the fawns which run faster than full grown deer. He 
remembers a particularly lively chase after a fawn, near Patton's 
Creek. The parties to the sport chased it far and fast enough to 
catch a deer. At last it hid in the high grass, and two of the 
hunters, Isaac Haner and Valentine Spawr, were thrown from 
their horses in the slough, while trying to catch it. Mr. Dawson 
at last caught it with his hands, holding its fore and hind legs, 
stretching it out helpless. He has caught quite a number of 
fawns, by springing from his horse and holding them in this way. 
Mr. Dawson has occasionally chased wild hogs, and they have 
occasionally chased him. He once went after two of his father's 
hogs which by neglect had become wild, and they turned on him 
savagely. He tried to climb a tree, but the tree was simply a 
little bush and broke down, and his situation seemed a bad one; 
but his dogs came to his rescue and occupied the attention of the 
ferocious hogs. 

The Dawson family are great lovers of stock, and it seems 
natural for them to manage cattle and horses well ; but Mr. Daw- 
son once had great difficulty with an ox belonging to his father. 
Good management and kind treatment had no effect upon it. It 
would not be broken or trained, but would hook and kick and 
even bite. If it had lived in the days of the Jews, it would have 
been supposed that the evil spirits, which were then so numerous, 
had entered into it. 

Croghan Dawson married, February 2, 1847, Elizabeth Haner. 
He has had nine children, of whom eight are living. They are : 

Merritt Dawson, lives in Chenoa township. 

James B., Ellen, Ezra, Azor, Dolly and Captain J. Dawson, 
live at home. 

Emma died in infancy. 

Mr. Dawson is about live feet and ten inches in height, and 
nearly all that is said of his brother John's disposition and char- 
acter will apply equally well to Croghan. He is a kind man and 
talks in a homelike manner, and he is blessed with a family of 
very intelligent children. 



m'lean county. 687 



James Adams. 



James Adams was born February 3, 1826, in Boone County, 

Kentucky. His father's name was Matthew Adams, and his 
mother's maiden name was Jane Black. ITis father's descenl was 
Irish, and his mother's was English. Matthew Adams was raised 
in Pennsylvania, and was a soldier in the war of 1812, just after 
Hull's surrender at Detroit, lie was a man somewhat peculiar 
in his ideas. If he had money he would sometimes lend it, but 
would never charge a cent of interest. He raised corn, but would 
never sell it for less than twenty-five cents per bushel, as he 
thought that a fair price, and if he could not get this price imme- 
diately, he kept his corn until it rose in the market. On the 
other hand, he never charged more than twenty-five cents per 
bushel, no matter how high it rose in the market, as he thought 
the acceptance of a larger price would be extortion. During the 
year 1844, the year of the great flood, when all the crops failed, 
Matthew Adams had on hand about a thousand bushels of old 
corn. He could have sold it for a very large price, but would 
accept only twenty-five cents per bushel, and would never sell to 
anyone more than that person needed for his family. No specu- 
lator was allowed to buy his corn. People came from Old Town, 
Cheney's Grove, Buckles' Grove, and from all over the country, 
to get some of Adams' corn. James Adams lived in Kentucky 
until October, 1834, when the family came to Illinois. The 
journey was pleasant until they came to the black swamps of 
Indiana. There it rained four days, and they traveled over the 
corduroy roads slowly, going fifteen miles in two days. After 
twenty-six days of travel they arrived at the house of John B. 
Thompson, who then lived in what is now Lexington township, 
on the north of the Mackinaw. There Matthew Adams bought 
a claim of Harrison Foster, entered it two years afterwards, and 
it still belongs to the family. 

When James Adams arrived at the age of fifteen, he took 
great interest in hunting, and made a specialty of shooting tur- 
keys. At one time he killed fifteen in a single day. He also 
hunted deer. The first he killed was a little spike-horn buck, 
which he creased on the neck, so that it was stunned and fell, and- 
he killed it with his knife before it could recover. He was a 



688 OLD SETTLERS OF 

tireless hunter, and once chased a deer all day after breaking into 
the Mackinaw and having his wet clothes frozen. He experienced 
some of the dangers as well as the excitements of the chase. At 
one time while chasing a deer his horse stepped into a badger's 
hole, turned a somersault, and sent the rider rolling. At one 
time James Adams and his brother Thomas were chasing deer 
on horseback. The horse which the former rode was shod as to 
its fore feet, but the horse ridden by the latter had no shoes at 
all. Unexpectedly they came to a slough overflowed and covered 
with ice. The horses were on the keen run and could not be 
reined up, and they crossed the slough of ice without slipping. 

James Adams speaks of a strange circumstance which hap- 
pened while one of his neighbors, John Spawr, was chasing a 
wolf. The horse which Mr. Spawr rode had been accustomed 
to step on the wolves, when it overtook them, but was once bitten 
and refused to step on them afterwards. While Spawr was chas- 
ing the wolf, he became so anxious that he shouted, and at last 
eagerly pitched headlong from his horse on the wolf, crushed it 
to the ground, tied its mouth with a suspender and brought the 
wild creature home. 

The early settlers were toughened and made hardy by their 
exposures. Mr. Adams speaks of the Foster family particularly. 
During the winter of the deep snow the family of Harrison Fos- 
ter had their cabin nearly covered with snow on the outside, and 
nearly filled on the inside, and they were obliged to leave it and 
go to the cabin of William Foster, a mile and a half distant, and 
were all more or less frost-bitten. But the Fosters became very 
tough and could endure much cold. Mr. Adams has seen the 
children sliding barefooted on the ice. Little Aaron Foster often 
ran about in the snow, with no garment to protect him but a 
shirt. He was once lost and was found curled up in a snow-drift 
fast asleep, with nothing but his shirt and the snow to keep him 
warm. 

Mackinaw Creek, where Mr. Adams lives, is nearly always 
difficult and dangerous to cross in the spring of the year or 
during a thaw in the winter. The following incident shows what 
risks young men will sometimes take under peculiar circum- 
stances. In January, 1846, Mr. Adams had an engagement with 
a young lady, who afterwards became Mrs. Adams. The Macki- 



m'lean county. 689 

naw was full of water and ice from bank to bank; nevertheless, 
lie crossed it by stepping on a cake of ice, then pushing it over 
to another and stepping upon that. On his return, at four o'clock 
in the morning, he re-crossed it in the same way. Mr. Adams 
says that the Mackinaw was never so high as to prevent him from 
crossing, though he was once stopped for a short time. He at- 
tempted to cross it on horseback, and his horse begun plunging 
and kept it up for half an hour. He was obliged at last to build 
a raft. He sometimes took passengers over on it, and at one 
time ferried over a certain Mr. Samuel Shurtleff. The logs rolled 
a little and Mr. Shurtleff was much frightened, and sat in the 
middle, calling out, " Oh, Lord ! Oh, Lord !" but was safely 
landed. About six years ago, while the Mackinaw was high, in 
February, Mr. Adams had a raft with which he ferried people 
over. He made several successful trips, but once came very near 
being carried under the ice, for it was piled up six feet high along 
the banks. 

If the West has been troubled with wet seasons, so it has also 
been troubled with dry. Mr. Adams speaks of a dry fall when 
he went to Chicago, and his oxen gave out on the prairie on ac- 
count of thirst and refused to travel for some time. At last went 
forward to the Mazon River, but found it dry, with the exception 
of a puddle of water, in which about two hundred of Isaac Funk's 
cattle had been wallowing. 

Church-going was, in early days, quite a journe} 7 . The Adams 
family went to church to Indian Grove, twelve miles distant, and 
to Money Creek, nine miles distant. They were obliged to be 
at church bv nine o'clock in the morning for love-feast, and found 
the congregation more punctual than at the present time. 

Mr. Adams married, February 9, 1847, Margaret Foster, a 
woman who bore the trials of a pioneer life bravely. She died in 
1855. Three children were born of this marriage. They are : 

Lee Adams, who lives just east of his father's. 

Thomas B. and William W. Adams live at home. 

Mr. Adams married, February 28, 1856, Miss Annie Ransom, 
one of the most agreeable and accomplished of women. She is 
a lady who commands the respect and admiration of all who are 
so fortunate as to be numbered among her acquaintances. 

James Adams is five feet and ten or eleven inches in height, 
44 



690 OLD SETTLERS OF 

is somewhat slim, has clear, blue eyes, and a rather prominent 
nose. He is a very companionable gentleman, and loves to talk 
of the good old days. He is very courteous to all with whom he 
converses, and is widely known and respected. 

Shelton Smith. 

Shelton Smith was born February 27, 1825, in Switzerland 
County, Indiana. His father's name was John Smith, and his 
mother's name was Cassandra Wiley. John Smith was of Scotch 
descent, and his wife Cassandra was of English, and, perhaps, 
partly of Welch. In 1834 the Smith family came to theHenline 
settlement in Mackinaw timber, Illinois. They made their jour- 
ney in the fall of the year, and had a pleasant time. When the}* 
came to the prairie they followed the Indian trail ; but at one time 
lost it and wandered out of sight of timber. ' They returned on 
their own track for some distance, and employed a guide to take 
them through. When they came to Mackinaw timber they bought 
a claim of George Henline and commenced farming. 

During the winter of 1830 Shelton Smith commenced going 
to school. His first teacher was an Irishman, who made the 
scholars study at the top of their voices. As they shouted their 
lessons he stood in the middle, of the floor slapping his hands and 
saying : "Whoop ! boys, I'll take ye through the arithraa^'c in 
four weeks !" This Irishman taught school until the day after 
Christmas, and then suddenly disappeared and Was never seen 
again. It was supposed that he left because the scholars gave 
him to understand that they would bar him out and make him 
treat, between Christmas and Xew Year's. The last day of school 
that season was in December, 1836, on the day of the great 
?' sudden change." When school was dismissed, the water and 
snow had just commenced freezing. While he and some larger 
boys were on their way home, they came to low ground covered 
with running water a foot or more in depth, and fifty or sixt}* 
yards wide. The tall boys started across it while a thin scale of 
ice was freezing. When they were coining out of the water on 
the opposite side, they had some difficulty in breaking the ice, as 
it partially bore their weight. Shelton stood watching them and 
they hallooed to him to come across, and if he could not wade 
through they would pull him out. He started, and the ice bore 
him up all the way over. 



m'lean county. 691 

In the winter of 1834-5, when the Smiths came to this coun- 
try, Shelton Smith and his younger brother John set traps for 
the prairie chickens. These traps were set near the house, where 
some flax, belonging to George Henline, was rotting. Thechick- 
ens came there in great flocks to eat the flaxseed, and the little 
Smith boys watched them as they filled up the traps. The 
chickens were taken out, and the traps were filled again and 
again. During that winter these boys caught seven hundred and 
fifty chickens. The breasts of the chickens were salted away in 
barrels, and the other parts were eaten. The family obtained 
enough meat from these chickens to last during the following 
summer. 

When Shelton Smith was fourteen years of age he often took 
his father's gun and went out to hunt. On his first hunt he dis- 
covered a deer, which came close to him, but instead of shooting, 
he climbed a tree from fear, and the deer ran off. Little Shelton 
determined to be more brave the next time, and not long after- 
wards, on another hunt, he saw a deer and laid his gun 
on a log, took deliberate aim and fired. The deer fell, and with 
boyish excitement little Smith dropped his gun and ran up. But 
when he approached the deer it rose to its feet, threw its hair 
forward and sprang towards him. He went up a tree in a mo- 
ment, and the deer came near and laid down. Little Shelton re- 
mained in the tree for several hour3, shivering with fear and 
cold, and throwing down branches to frighten away the animal 
below. At last, being fearful of freezing to death, he descended 
and found the deer cold and stiff. The deer were very plenty. 
At another time little Smith shot a very large buck on the side 
of a hill, and was much excited and jumped on it with his knife 
to cut its throat. But as he caught hold of the large antler he 
thought he would first count the prongs, and he counted seven ; 
just then the deer doubled up and gave little Smith a kick, 
which sent him rolling down the hill, and as he looked up, the 
deer was running away. It was never seen again by little Smith. 

When Shelton Smith became large enough to chase wolves 
on horseback he had great sport. He once tired out a wolf after 
a long chase, and his horse stumbled ov£r it, and Smith was 
thrown. In the struggle he succeeded in getting hold of the 
wolf, choked it down, tied its mouth with a suspender and 



692 OLD SETTLERS OF 

brought it home alive. Mr. Smith tells a story on Samuel Og- 
den, which has often been related by political speakers to illus- 
trate their points. Samuel Ogden had a fine greyhound, called 
Sharp, which was fleet after deer. Once, while Sharp was 
coming up to a buck, which was running with all its might, the 
latter became frightened and confused and ran in a zigzag course. 
Then Samuel Ogden exclaimed : "Oh, you may gee and you may 
haw, but Sharp will take you at last." This incident has often 
been told by political speakers to illustrate the zigzag courses of 
their adversaries, and that justice will overtake them at last. 

Shelton Smith married, November 16, 1851, Melinda Powell. 
He has had seven children, of whom five are living. They are : 

Emma, Lucinda, Charlotte, Shelton, jr., and Albert. Those 
who are dead, are : Harper and Cassandra. 

Mr. Smith is five feet and ten inches in height. He is 
straight in build, and pleasant in his manner. He loves fun, 
though he is somewhat slow of speech. He appears to have suc- 
ceeded well in life, and has an interesting family. He is a very 
reliable man and much respected in the community where he 
resides. He likes to play croquet, which is a favorite game in 
Lexington. 

Milton Smith. 

Milton Smith was born Februaiy 19, 1808, in Franklin Coun- 
ty, Kentucky. His father's name was William Smith, and his 
mother's name was Obedience Brown. He thinks he is of Irish, 
Welch and English descent. The father of Milton Smith died 
when the latter was eight years of age. Milton grew up in 
Franklin County, where he was born. He had many lively ex- 
periences, as he was a lively boy. There was a species of insect 
called the yellow jacket, which was quite common in Kentucky. 
This insect was long, with yellow stripes or bars running around 
its body, and was something between the bee and the wasp. It 
had a fearful sting in its tail ; and when it was angry this insect 
would take hold, with its bill, of the object of its wrath, curl up 
its body and sting again and again. It was dangerous business 
to disturb a yellow jacket's, nest. But the troublesome insects 
often made their nests in the pastures and the cattle were some- 
times made crazy by their stings. It was often an interesting 



m'lean county. 693 

problem how to destroy these nests of yellow jackets ; but Mil- 
ton Smith was a bright boy and his ingenuity never failed him. 
He would shell a few quarts of corn, come up slyly to the nest, 
and pour the corn into it and around it. Then he would call the 
pigs ! The swine would come running up, giving satisfactory 
grunts, and would at once begin eating the corn and tear- 
ing up the nest to get more. The yellow jackets would come 
out, of course, and sting the pigs, and the latter would flap their 
ears, shake their tails and squeal ; but they were pretty sure to 
eat up the corn and tear up the nest until they found the last 
kernel. 

In the fall of 1835 Milton Smith came to where Pleasant Hill 
now stands, in the township of Lexington, McLean County, Illi- 
nois, and he has lived there ever since. He helped to build the 
first house in Lexington, which was put up by Gridley & Covel. 
Thomas Fell had the building contract. Mr. Smith succeeded 
well in the new country, as his motto was "keep striking." He 
bought land, exercised good judgment, and has become very 
well to do in life. He bought some land after the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad was built, when the last unentered land was taken 
up. He would have bought more, but he had a lively recollec- 
tion of the unfortunate speculations of men who entered land, 
and after holding it for many years, sold it for less than the gov 
ernment price. 

Mr. Smith married, November 23, 1837, Lydia Ann Goddard. 
She is a woman of ready wit, and is a good judge of character. 
They have had eleven children, of whom nine are living. Mr. 
and Mrs. Smith both appreciate practical jokes, and their chil- 
dren are not far behind them in this respect, and occasionally 
put their love of fun into practice. It is said that during one 
morning, when Mr. Smith called his children to the house to at- 
tend devotional exercises, they all came except Fletcher. This 
young man had an idea which he wished to develop. He waited 
until the exercises commenced, when he took his father's dog by 
the neck and pitched the unfortunate animal between two bee 
hives, which were standing close together. The bees were en- 
raged and swarmed out everywhere, and the poor dog ran off 
howling. Fletcher took good care to keep out of the way. The 
devotional exercises were carried on under difficulties, and it is 
said were suspended for the time being. 



694 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Smith's living children are : 

Ann Mary, wife of George B. Ogeson, lives in Lexington. 

Sarah Francis, widow of Marinus "W. Strayer, lives in Lex- 
ington. 

"William A. Smith lives in Lexington township, south of the 
Mackinaw. 

Fletcher M. Smith is married and lives in Lexington. 

Carrie, Kate, Louis, George and Estelle (the pet) live at 
home. 

Mr. Smith is about five feet and eight inches in height, is 
strongly and squarely built. His hair and whiskers are white 
and his eyes are gray. His mouth has a firm expression, and his 
eyes twinkle when he sees anything funny. He is a very religious 
man and belongs to the Presbyterian church. He is very con- 
scientious in his dealings, and is widely known and respected. 
He is always anxious to speak well of his neighbors, and char- 
itably conceals their faults. 

Thomas McMackin. 

Thomas McMackin was born March 15, 1823, in Green Coun- 
ty, Tennessee. His father, Thomas McMackin, was a native 
American, and his mother, whose maiden name was Rachel 
Monteith, was partly Irish and partly American. 

In the fall of 1838, Thomas McMackin and his widowed 
mother came to McLean County, Illinois. They came with an- 
other family and two young men; and during a part of the jour- 
ney they had with them an old Quaker as a guide. This old 
gentleman was exceedingly honest, and was pained at sight of 
any immoral act. When the young men stole a couple of 
gourds, the old gentleman was so shocked and so angry that he 
broke the gourds over the young men's heads. The journey 
was, on the whole, a pleasant one, but a few incidents occurred 
which are perhaps worth relating. Mr. McMackin says that just 
before the party came to the Kentucky shore he saw the meanest 
man he ever knew. He was a Baptist preacher, named Rush. 
This man compelled his slaves to work until ten o'clock at night 
and made them go four miles after dark for potatoes, and sent 
them off to work the next morning by sunrise. This preacher 
had two large orchards, but forbade any of the party to go near 



m'lean county. 695 

them. Nevertheless, this order was not obeyed, and the party 
went through the orchards, but found no apples lit for eating. 
Mr. McMackin does not wish it thought that he has any feeling 
of disrespect for preachers as a general thing, but he certainly 
did have a lively sense of the meanness of this Baptist preacher, 
Mr. Rush. 

During the latter part of November, the party arrived at 
Cheney's Grove. There the McMackin family lived for two 
years on the place belonging to the heirs of Benjamin Thomas. 
In 1843, Thomas McMackin was a boatman on the Illinois and 
Wabash Rivers. He also flatboated for awhile on the Vermilion 
River. He had evil fortune, as people sometimes do, and lost his 
health and used up all his earnings in regaining it. 

Mr. McMackin married, February 13, 1848, Elizabeth Dow- 
ney, eldest daughter of Benjamin Downey. He has lived since 
that time in Lexington township, with the exception of one year. 

He made the usual trips to Chicago, when prices seemed 
little or nothing compared with the present, and went long dis- 
tances to mill. For some unexplained reason he seemed to live 
easier and better then than at the present time, and took more 
pleasure in life. He has carried his axe fifteen miles to help a 
neighbor raise a log cabin, going one day and returning the 
next. 

Mr. McMackin thought the land in the West would never be 
settled, and neglected to buy land until it was all taken up and 
could not be had, except at high prices. He now lives on 
twenty-five acres of land, which he has bought with hard earned 
money. He was offered a square of land in Bloomington, near 
the Wesleyan University, for eightj- dollars, and it is now worth 
twenty thousand. 

Mr. McMackin has three children, James, Eliza and Joseph 
Grant McMackin, all of whom live at home. 

Mr. McMackin is five feet and eight inches high, has brown 
hair and whiskers and gray eyes. He is a good man and has a 
kind expression in his face. His nose is good natured and 
Roman. He is very peaceable and quiet, but sensible in conver- 
sation. He seems very conscientious and honorable in his deal- 
ings. He has been pathmaster for some time, but insists that he 
shall not be compelled to serve again. Notwithstanding the 



696 OLD SETTLERS OF 

quietness of his manner, Mr. McMackin is bold when boldness is 
required, and has great presence of mind during an exciting 
moment. He once rescued a lady, who had fallen into the San- 
gamon river, after she had sunk for the third time. He was on 
horseback at the time, and when apprised of her danger rode 
into the water, jumped from his horse and succeeded in bringing 
her out. She was insensible, but was revived after some 
exertion. 



MARTIN. 

William Wiley. 

William Wiley was born August 24, 1813, in Garrett County, 
Kentucky. His father's name was John Wiley, and his mother's 
name before her marriage was Hannah Sampson. Both were of 
English descent. When William was three or four 3~ears of age 
his lather's family moved to Switzerland County, Indiana. When 
Mr. Wiley was eighteen years of age, he went with his father 
during the winter season on a flatboat down the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi. In the Ohio River their boat grounded on a sand bar, 
and by the falling of the water was left twenty or thirty feet in 
the air ; but the water rose and they floated on their way. They 
often made landings on the shore of the Mississippi, and the 
negroes would come on board to trade sugar for meat. They said 
that all the meat they could get was obtained in that way. Their 
only allowance (he thinks) was a peck of meal per week. They 
were poor, and lacked the energy of the negroes of Kentucky. 
The latter were fatter, sleeker and greasier. 

In the fall of 1835 the Wiley family came to Mackinaw tim- 
ber, in the present township of Lawndale. The weather during 
the journey was cold and rainy, and the Wile} T s were often mired 
d< >\vn in the sloughs. They reached the Sangamon in November. 
Their sheep refused to cross until William Wiley took one by 
force and dragged it over. 

At Mackinaw timber, William Wiley helped his father make 
a farm, and then made one for himself, where he now lives. 

Mr. Wiley speaks most eloquently of the sudden change of 



m'lean county. 697 

December, 1836, and of the great difficulty in driving his cattle 
from the creek bottom to prevent them from freezing fast in the 
water. 

The deer, in an early day, were very thiek in the Upper 
Mackinaw timber, and in the fall of the year would make bad 
work in the cornfields. Mr. Wiley has counted eighty deer in a 
line coming from the prairie into his cornfield at the edge of the 
timber, during the evening of a cold day. 

John Messer, the great hunter on the Mackinaw, frequently 
came to Mr. Wiley's, and they went out hunting together. The 
two men once went to Burr Oak Grove, where they killed several 
coons, and became much excited in the sport. Mr. Messer put 
his hand into a hole to feel for coons, and unexpectedly got a 
bite, for a vicious coon grabbed his thumb. He said nothing, 
but kept his hand perfectly still until the coon let loose. He told 
Wiley that the coon was very strong, and induced that gentleman 
to try his skill ; but Wiley first put on his buckskin mittens, and 
when he heard the coon snarl, withdrew his hand. That little 
joke could not be passed around. 

Mr. Wiley speaks of old Milton Smith, and says, that when 
he came to the country, he brought with him 'from Kentucky an 
old negro woman, whom he had hired in order to hold her in a 
free State. But she was a high-tempered woman, and when she 
learned to use the ox-whip, she occasionally mistook old Milton 
for the steers she drove. 

The old settlers particularly enjoyed practical jokes. Mr. 
Wiley speaks of a yellow jacket's nest, with an advertisement or 
notice posted over it to draw people there. Those who were 
victimized appreciated the joke so highly that they allowed the 
notice to stand, and called the attention of others to it. 

On the 30th of September, 1841, William Wiley married 
Nancy Hopkins. They have had eight children, six of whom 
are living. They are : 

John Wiley, who lives just east of his father's. He enlisted 
in the Eighth Illinois Infantry, and was in the battles of Fort 
Donelson, Shiloh, siege of Yicksburg, and many others. 

Robert Wiley, who enlisted in the regiment some time after 
its organization, died of the measles about six months after his 
enlistment. 



698 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Joseph Wiley served in the same regiment during the last 
eighteen months of the war. He lives at home with his father. 

William R., James, Amelia and Xancy E. Wiley, live at 
home. 

Mr. Wiley is about five feet and ten inches in height. His 
eyes are dark, his hair is black, but his whiskers are white with 
age. He is a good man, and is blessed with a family of intelli- 
gent and happy children. 

Lytle Royston Wiley. 

Lytle R. Wiley was born November 7, 1815, in Garrard 
County, Kentucky. When he was about two years old his parents 
left Kentucky and came to Switzerland County, Indiana, and 
there lived until November, 1835, when they came to Illinois. 
Here he found matters very unhandily arranged, for there was no 
village near by, where even the necessaries of life could be pur- 
chased. The mill was fifty or sixty miles distant, and wheat was 
hauled to Chicago for fifty or seventy cents per bushel. The pork 
was so cheap that it was almost given away. Mr. Wiley was 
never a hunter, but occasionally took amusement by chasing 
wolves. He attended carefully to his farm, and found always 
plenty to do. Although he has been an active, hardworking 
pioneer, his life has had in it very little of adventure. The only 
"lively time," which he particularly calls to mind, was his chase 
after his cattle on the creek bottom of the Mackinaw, to prevent 
them from freezing into the slush during the sudden change in 
December, 1836. 

On the 13th of June, 1843, Mr. Wile}' married his relative, 
Miss Sarah Wiley. They have had nine children, of whom eight 
are living. They are : 

Thomas, who intends to be a physician ; Khoda Margaret, 
John James, Hannah Elizabeth, William Sampson, Sarah Lucin- 
da, Lytle Richard and Mary Cassandra Wiley, all live at home 
with their parents. 

Mr. Wiley is five feet and eleven and one-half inches in height, 
is rather slim in build, has brown hair, and whiskers partly gray. 
He has attended closely to his business and succeeded well. He 
has hunted very little, but has employed all of his time in farm- 
ing and caring for his stock, and by this means has accumulated 



m'lean county. 699 

a fair amount of property. He seems to have looked after his 
affairs carefully, and has not allowed anything to go to waste for 
want of attention. He is a thrifty fanner and a good American 

citizen. 

Curtis Batterton. 

Curtis Batterton, brother of Martin Batterton, of Lawndale 
township, was born. January 11, 1810, in Madison County, Ken- 
tucky. He lived in his native State until he grew to manhood. 
Xo very important or remarkable event occurred during his early 
life. He received the education which could he obtained at that 
early day. 

In the fall of 1831, Curtis Batterton went with two men, 
Martin and Linsey, to South Carolina, with a drove of swine. 
They stopped at certain places, where notices had been posted 
that on certain days swine would be sold, and in this manner dis- 
posed of the drove. The negroes there had very queer ideas. 
Their thoughts seemed to be confined to their bodily wants. They 
nearly all wished to go to Kentucky, for they knew that swine 
were driven from there, and they supposed that negroes in Ken- 
tucky could have all the pork they wished to eat. The negroes 
hated the cotton-fields, and w r ere willing to do almost anything 
rather than pick cotton. They were well clothed, indeed he saw 
only one ragged negro. 

In the fall of 1836, Mr. Batterton came through Illinois to 
Missouri. He took a careful observation, and decided that it was 
hardly worth while to settle there as long as he could enter land 
in McLean County, Illinois. During the fall of 1836, on his 
way back to Kentucky, he bought eighty acres of land in Macki- 
naw 7 timber, and came to it in the spring of 1837, and made a 
farm and broke prairie. The wolves were exceedingly trouble- 
some. He had a flock of twenty-five sheep, and made every ex- 
ertion to protect them ; but they went one by one, and during a 
single night five of them became missing. At one time he awoke 
at night and found a sheep running around the house, a wolf 
after the sheep, and his dog after the wolf. He only saved one 
sheep out of the twenty-five. 

Mr. Batterton was never much of a hunter. He pursued the 
wolves and caught a great many of them to protect his stock, but 



700 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Iil- never hunted as a business. His time was spent in raising 
stock and cultivating* liis farm. He tells of a lively hunter, who 
killed two deer, skinned one of them, and as it was cold, threw 
the skin over his shoulders, and began skinning the other. A 
youthful hunter mistook the man for a deer and fired at him. 
But the young man missed his mark, as youthful hunters some- 
times will, and no damage resulted. 

In the fall of the year the settlers went to. Chicago, and great 
strings of wagons, indeed almost caravans, were seen on the road. 
Xo one mourned for want of company. 

Going to mill in the early days was a task, and usually re- 
quired some time. Mr. Batterton tells a joke on an early settler, 
who required twenty-seven years to go to mill. A few of the 
settlers became seriously indebted to various merchants, and the 
laws for collections were then very stringent, and parties could 
oftentimes be taken on a capias. One person, who was about to 
make a settlement elsewhere, and had a few little dues outstand- 
ing, loaded up his slight worldly possessions as if going to mill, 
and left. Twenty-seven years afterwards he returned, and was 
asked if his grist was yet ground ! 

On the 10th of August, 1837, Mr. Batterton married Melinda 
Henline. He has had seven children, of whom four are living. 
They are : 

Tilitha, who is a milliner, and lives at Lexington. 

John Batterton enlisted at the outbreak of the war in the 
Eighth Illinois Infantry. He died of sickness at Jackson, Tenn. 
He was a brave boy and did his duty. 

Franklin, William and Albert, all live at home. 

Mr. Batterton is five feet and ten inches in height, is straight 
and rather spare. He is careful, thrifty and honest, has worked 
well, and has seen the fruits of his labor in the plenty which sur- 
rounds him, and makes his life pleasant. He is a kind, good 
man, and likes a chat with his neighbors and friends. 



m'lean county. 701 



MONEY CREEK. 



Jesse Trimmer. 

Jesse Trimmer was born March 14, 1818, in Huntington 
County, New Jersey. His father's name was John Trimmer, 
and his mother's name before her marriage was Elizabeth Lan- 
terman. John Trimmer was an active business man, and his 
worldly circumstances were very fair. In August, 1826, the 
Trimmer family came to Smith's Grove, McLean County, Illi- 
nois. After they crossed the Wabash, on their road to the West, 
they saw no white person until they reached Smith's Grove. 
They traveled on an Indian trail and found no wagon track this 
side of the Wabash. No white person was to be found at that 
time in Mackinaw timber. Jonathan Cheney was at Cheney's 
Grove, John Dawson lived at Old Town timber, and about fif- 
teen families lived in Blooming Grove. 

In October of that year, before the family had built a house 
and while they were yet living in a camp, John Trimmer died, 
leaving Mrs. Trimmer with a family of eight children to oversee 
and provide for. Mr. Trimmer was buried in a coffin made of 
walnut lumber, which had been made by splitting thin pieces 
from a log and dressing them down with an axe and a jack 
plane. Jacob Spawr, W. H. Hodge, William Orendorff and 
John Hendryx helped to make the coffin and assisted at the 
funeral. 

The family settled first on Money Creek, about one mile 
north of where Towanda now stands, and lived there about ten 
years. 

When Mr. Trimmer came to the country he was a child, and 
his playmates were the Indian boys, with whom he- often ran 
races. The clothing of the pioneer children consisted of a shirt, 
but nothing else to speak of. Mr. Trimmer once witnessed a 
race between George Harness and an Indian boy, in which the 
latter came out ahead. George was beaten but not discouraged, 
and declared that if he could pull oft' his shirt he could beat the 
little savage. He drew off his shirt, and on a second race came 
out ahead. The Indians were very friendly and stole water- 
melons in a sociable way. They sometimes raised corn, and 



702 OLD SETTLERS OF 

when they moved away the white folks were asked to take care 
of it in the lofts of their cabins. The Indians were always glad 
to get a night's lodging, and Mr. Trimmer remembers when two 
of them stayed at his mother's house over night. She gave them 
mush and milk for supper, but they did not know how to eat it 
until the little Trimmers commenced. 

During the deep snow the Trimmers had the experience com- 
mon to all of the old settlers. In the fore part of the winter, 
Frederick Trimmer and one other went to St. Louis to bring 
goods for James Allin. They returned as far as Springfield, 
when they were caught in the deep snow. They left their loads 
and came home with four horses, riding two and driving two 
ahead in a single file to break the road. As soon as the horse 
on the lead gave out, it was put in the rear and another took its 
place. The goods were not brought to Blooming Grove until 
the April afterwards. 

Mr. Trimmer married, March 7, 1839, Amanda Grilmore, who 
was born and reared in Fayette County, Ohio. She came to 
Money Creek timber in 1837. Her family was four weeks on 
their journey to the West, and Amanda walked all the way and 
drove cattle. 

Mr. Trimmer has had ten children, of whom seven grew up, 
and six are living. 

William Trimmer enlisted in the Thirty-third Illinois Volun- 
teers in August, 1861, was discharged from the hospital at St. 
Louis, on account of continued sickness, and died three months 
afterwards of sickness contracted in the army. 

Eliza Ann was married to John T. McISTott, and lives at 
Normal. 

John F. Trimmer was a soldier in the Ninety-fourth Illinois, 
and afterwards in the Twenty-seventh, and served nearly three 
years. He lives in Money Creek timber. 

Sarah E. Trimmer married Joseph A. Scott, and lives in 
Hudson township. 

Frank, Mary and Enos Trimmer live at home. 

Mr. Trimmer is rather less than the medium height ; his hair 
is dark and turning a little gray and his face is broad. He 
seems in good health, is in comfortable circumstances, and 
appears to be a man of responsibility and standing. He is 



m'lean county. 703 

friendly in manner and modest in appearance. Very few men 
have too little self assertion, but this certainly seems to be the 
case with Mr. Trimmer. 

Henry Moats. 

Henry Moats was born November 26, 1810, in Licking 
County, Ohio. His ancestors were of German and Irish descent. 
In the fall of 1829, the Moats family came to Buckles' Grove, 
where they remained six weeks, then went to where Hudson 
now stands and remained a month ; then came to Money Creek 
timber and made a permanent settlement. They did some farm- 
ing, hunted " right smart," pounded their corn during the 
" hominy session," which was the winter of the deep snow, and 
hauled fall wheat to Chicago for forty cents per bushel. 

Mr. Moats married, November 2, 1837, Elsie Van Buskirk. 
He has had four children, of whom two are living. They are : 

Francis Marion Moats, who lives west near by his father. 

Mary Jane Moats, who is married to John Rankin, and lives 
a mile and a-quarter northeast of her father's. 

Mr. Moats is fully six feet in height, has broad shoulders, is 
strong, is good natured, accommodating and pleasant. He 
works hard, and has done fairly well since his arrival in the 
West. He has a full head of rather bushy hair, which is turn- 
ing gray, and his whiskers are grayish black. He always enjoys 
himself in the society of the frank spoken old settlers, and thinks 
they are much more social than at the present time. 

William Stretch. 

William Stretch was born March 24, 1817, in Fayette Coun- 
ty, Ohio. He is of English, Scotch and Dutch descent. His 
father was Jesse Stretch, and his mother was Elizabeth Vando- 
lah. The Stretch family came to McLean County in the fall of 
1830. They had a very pleasant journey, were nineteen days on 
the road ; but William shook with the ague during the most of 
the time and was not in a situation to appreciate the grandeur of 
the West. The family settled on the east side of Money Creek 
timber, where William Stretch now lives, and there built a cabin 
and began farming. During the first winter of their residence 
in this country they pounded their meal, and the Stretch boys 
had great sport in chasing the deer. 



704 OLD SETTLERS OF 

During the summer of 1832 the Stretch family lived in their 
own cabin, and did not run for protection on account of the wars 
and rumors of wars, which were flying around. 

William Stretch has led a quiet life, and has not had it di- 
versified by many adventures. At one time, when he killed a 
deer in Mackinaw timber, he became lost. The day was cloudy 
and it was impossible to see the sun. He dragged his deer du- 
ring the greater part of the day over the snow, and at nearly 
nightfall discovered the house of Samuel Bigger, and then un- 
derstood his position. 

Mr. Stretch married in 1850, Elizabeth Ann White, who died 
in 1854. He has had two children : 

Almeda Josephine, who is married to Samuel Nichols, and 
lives with her father. 

Samantha Jane, who is married to William Stretch, her 
cousin, and lives on a part of the homestead place. 

Mr. Stretch is five feet and ten and one-half inches in height; 
his hair is dark, and his eyes are a light hazel. His form is 
large, and he weighs from one hundred and ninety to two hun- 
dred pounds. He has great muscle, and his features are massive 
and heavy. He seems to be a man very independent in manner 
and feeling, though quiet and modest. He is a good neighbor 
and a kind father, and a man whose word can always be relied 
upon. 

Albert Ogden. 

Albert Ogden was born in 1798 in New York, and was of 
English descent. He came to Ohio at an early day and there 
worked at his trade as a cooper. He married Margaret Riddle, 
who was born in Pennsylvania. Her descent was rather mixed, 
as her ancestors were Scotch, Irish, Welch and Dutch. 

Albert Ogden lived in Madison County, Ohio, for a long 
while, and was a famous hunter there. He often hunted deer by 
torchlight on Deer Creek. This creek in some places spread 
out into ponds, and here the deer came in the night time to feed 
on moss. Mr. Ogden hunted with a canoe at night. He placed 
a torch in the canoe, and in front of the torch was a board with 
a hole in it, giving the torch the appearance of a dark lantern. 
Behind the board was the hunter. He could come up within a 



m'lean county. 705 

few rods of the deer, as they were feeding on the moss, for they 
would gaze at the light with astonishment. Mr. Ogden under- 
stood the nature of deer, and hunted them accordingly. In 
Madison Couuty were many barrens, and on these were knolls 
of ground. "When the deer were scared they were sure to run 
up on a knoll and look around. Mr. Ogden, understanding this, 
would take his position near a knoll, and send his boy around 
to scare up the deer, which would run to the knoll, and there 
Mr. Ogden's unerring rifle would bring them down. 

Albert Ogden came to Money Creek timber, McLean Coun- 
ty, Illinois, in the fall of 1831, and there helped his son Benja- 
min to make his farm. He did very little hunting after his 
arrival in the West, but worked hard and faithfully. He died 
August 13, 1845. He had ten children, of whom eight grew up. 
They are : 

Mrs. Polly Dawson, wife of James K. Dawson, lives in Money 
Creek township. 

Abner Ogden died in Ohio, never came West. 

Jonathan Ogden lives in Money Creek township. 

Benjamin Ogden died in September, 1873, at his home in 
Money Creek timber. 

Deborah Ogden was first married to Hiram Tipton, and after 
his death she was married to Elder Henry Stump. 

John Ogden lives in Money Creek township. 

Susannah Ogden was married to William Orendorff. She 
and her husband are both dead. 

Samuel Ogden lives on Buck Creek in Money Creek town- 
ship. 

William Wilcox. 

William Wilcox was born December 26, 1813, in Fayette 
County, Ohio. His father's name was Edward Wilcox, and his 
mother's name before her marriage was Sarah Richardson. Ed- 
ward Wilcox was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Kentucky 
at an early day. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was 
one of the party sent down to bury the dead at Fort Stephenson 
on the Lower Sandusky, after the attack made upon it by the 
British and Indians. The fort was defended by Major Croghan, 
who commanded a little band of one hundred and sixty young 
45 



706 OLD SETTLERS OF 

men, and Edward Wilcox says that this little garrison was dis- 
proportioned to the number of men, that lay dead in the ditch 
in front of the fort. Many of those in the ditch lay dead with- 
out a scar of any kind, and seemed smothered in dead bodies 
and blood. After this battle General Harrison censured Major 
Croghan,a8 the former had sent the latter orders to retreat; but 
it afterwards appeared that the orders were never received. 
The ladies of Chillicothe presented to Major Croghan a fine 
sword as a reward for his bravery, and a red petticoat as a sar- 
casm upon General Harrison. 

William Wilcox lived in Fayette County, from the time he 
was born until he came to Illinois, which was in the spring of 
1832. On the fourth of May of that year the Wilcox family 
started. They came through heavy timbered country in Ohio, 
where scarcely any grass could be had to feed their horses, and 
were obliged to pay a dollar and a quarter per bushel for corn. 
When they arrived at the Wabash, they found many peaceable 
Indians with their squaws, who had come there to be as far as 
possible away from the scenes of the Black Hawk war. When 
the party arrived on the open prairie, they were much troubled 
by wolves, which hung around them every night. These animals 
were always on the watch, and during one night attacked a colt 
belonging to Mr. Wilcox, and injured it so severely that it after- 
wards died. On the 30th of June, the family arrived at Macki- 
naw timber and settled where William Wilcox now lives. Their 
first care was to obtain provisions, and Mr. Wilcox, jr., was sent 
one hundred and ten miles to Perrysville, on the Wabash, for 
flour. But this was simply a prelude to the travels, which he 
afterwards made to mill. He once went to Green's mill, at Ot- 
tawa, and broke down his wagon with sixty bushels of wheat in 
the Illinois River. Three other teams were in company with him 
and the teamsters waded into the water and carried the sixty 
bushels of wheat ashore, sack by sack. This was in 1836. During 
the following year, he went to the Kankakee River to mill, in 
company with a friend, who also had a wagon load of wheat and 
a team. They mired down very often and were obliged to double 
teams and pull out. At last the friend mired down completely 
to the wagon bed, and even the double team would not pull the 
wagon out. The teamsters then took off the load and carried 



m'lean county. 707 

out the wheat sack by sack, but even the double team could not 
stir the wagon, and the only result of pulling was to break off 
the tongue. The teamsters then lifted oit* the wagon bed and 
pried up the wheels, two at a time, and brought them out. The 
wagon was put together, the load replaced, the two wagous fas- 
tened together and the teams doubled, and in this way they pro- 
ceeded on their journey. They were a complete mass of black 
mud from head to foot, but took a good wash at the Kankakee. 
While the miller was grinding their wheat, they made a tongue 
to replace the one which had been broken, and returned safely 
home. 

Mr. Wilcox often went hunting after bees. In 1835, he went 
with a friend to Indiana after honey. On the road their horses 
ran away and broke the spokes out of a wheel ; but they mended 
this little breakage and went on. When they came to timber, 
they hunted bees and found a very old swarm, and among the 
comb they found a black snake dead and carefully sealed up with 
wax. Its skin was finely preserved. 

Mr. Wilcox has done his share of wolf hunting, and has 
caught these cunning and treacherous animals in pens, with dogs 
and horses, and in' every way that ingenuity could suggest. He 
once went with a party after some gray wolves, and killed the 
mother of the pack and twelve wolves two-thirds grown. This 
was an unusual litter; the greater number of them were killed 
as they came out of a hollow log, from which they were driven 
by fire. One of these wolves was caught by Mr. Wilcox on 
foot. 

He chased wolves on horseback, and once caught one after a 
run of nine miles; but it was so stiff, when killed, that he placed 
it on its feet upright and left it. Mrs. Wilcox has had he,r expe- 
rience with these animals and one fine morning saw two of them 
near the barn. They did not appear at all afraid, but seemed to 
know that women are not usually dangerous. The dogs attacked 
them, but they escaped. The wolves still trouble the settlers on 
the Mackinaw. Mr. Wilcox has often hunted deer and had 
many interesting adventures. His wrists at the present time 
show the scars made by the prongs of a wounded deer, with 
which he had a severe struggle. He once had a struggle with a 
deer on the smooth ice of the Mackinaw. The deer kicked hi* 



708 OLD SETTLERS OF 

knife out of his hand and sent it skipping over the ice; but he 
clung to the deer by one antler and one hind leg, and struggled 
up and down, on top and under, over and around, until another 
hunter came to his assistance. Mr. Wilcox went hunting deer 
shortly after the sudden change Of December, 1836. The coun- 
try was an absolute glare of ice, and he hunted on foot with his 
dog. He started a drove of deer, which increased to more than 
a hundred, and they went slipping over the ice, with his dog 
slipping and scratching after them. They went down hill very 
fast, as they would spring and slide, but while going up hill they 
would spring and slip and slide back. The dog would frequently 
get hold of a deer, but as the former could not keep its foothold 
it would be kicked loose. Sometimes, while going up a hill, the 
deer in front would fall and slide back, throwing down those 
behind, until the whole drove would become a mass of sliding, 
kicking and springing animals. Mr. Wilcox became very much 
excited and fired at the mass without taking aim at a single one. 
But this was not a very effective way, for after a long day's hunt 
he only killed one deer. 

Mr. Wilcox has often hunted turkeys and killed as many as 
twelve in a day. He once chased a turkey to the bank of the 
Mackinaw and struck at it with his whip, as it was about to iiy 
across, and the lash coiled around its neck and held it fast. 

Mr. Wilcox has led the life of a farmer, and has been very 
successful in his calling. In common with many farmers, he is 
no great lover of railroads, particularly of high freights. In 
1867, he made a visit to Iowa, and as he had no baggage he took 
a box with seven bushels of apples and enjoyed himself by lis- 
tening to the railroad officials as they used improper expressions 
while lifting it. It was twice broken open by rough handling, 
but taken through at last. In Iowa, he saw snow as deep as that 
spoken of by the " deep snow" settlers of McLean County. He 
rode over snow drifts twenty feet in depth, and at one time went 
over an orchard without knowing it until afterwards, as not a 
tree was visible above the snow. 

Mr. Wilcox was married, June 12, 1845, to Mary Young. 
He has had two children, one of whom is living. She is Mary 
Ellen, wife of Andrew Steward, and lives in Gridley township. 
Mr. Wilcox is about five feet and eight inches in height and 



m'lean county. 709 

is rather slim. His head is bald, but well shaped, and shows a 
good development of brain. His eyes are gray, his whiskers of 
a reddish cast, intermixed with gray. He is a remarkable man 
among the old settlers — remarkable for his humor and kindness 
of heart and his boundless hospitality. His friends are welcome 
under his roof, and if they visit him he will tell them the inci- 
dents of his early settlement, the fun and humor of other days, 
when all people were neighbors. 

John Ogden. 

John Ogden was born May 23, 1807, in Madison County, 
Ohio. He was, in his youth, an active young man, and accus- 
tomed to work, and had little taste for hunting. His brother 
Samuel, who now lives north of the Mackinaw, was the hunter of 
the family. John Ogden went to school in Ohio, but was not a 
very forward scholar, as it required six months for him to go far 
enough in the spelling book to come to the word "baker." 

He was married in April, 1826, when not quite nineteen years 
of age, to Esther Stretch. In 1832, the year of the Black Hawk 
war, he moved to Illinois, and his journey was a hard one through 
the mud and rain. He was often deep in the mud and water, but 
says he always felt safe as long as he could see the oxen's horns ! 
He was more than a month on the road, but arrived at last at 
Mackinaw timber, where he bought out a man named Carlin, 
and settled down as a farmer. He worked hard, broke up a few 
acres of prairie and planted it in corn. A variety was given to 
frontier life in 1832 by the panics, to which the settlers were lia- 
ble during the Black Hawk war. When the soldiers returned, 
shooting squirrels on their way through the timber, the people 
were universally frightened. 

Mr. Ogden made the usual trips to various parts of the coun- 
try to mill, and went often to Chicago to market. At one time, 
on his return from Chicago, he attempted to ride one of his oxen 
across the Illinois River, while the ice was running ; but the ice 
struck his ox and made it plunge, and Mr. Ogden was thrown 
into the water. 

Mr. Ogden had six children by his first marriage. They are : 

Benjamin, who died at the age of sixteen years, six months 
and twenty-six days. 



710 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Hiram, who died in California, when nearly twenty-one. 

Elizabeth, wife of Frank Johnson, of Money Creek, died 
June 22, 1873. 

Sarah Adeline, wife of Hugh Hineman, died about nine years 
ago. 

Lafayette lives in Mackinaw timber, near his father's. 

Helen, wife of William Orendorff, lives at Blooming Grove. 

Mrs. Ogden died October 14, 1858, and on the fifth of March, 
1861, Mr. Ogden married Mary Abbott. By this marriage he 
has two children, Arnettie and Hattie Eleanor, who both live at 
home. 

Mr. Ogden is about five feet and a half in height. His hair 
is curly and black, and is becoming slightly gray. He weighs 
about one hundred and eighty-five pounds, and is healthy, with 
the exception of poor eyesight, which prevents him from work- 
ing much. 

James McAferty. 

James McAferty was born November 24th, 1779, in Ken- 
tucky, but settled in Fayette County, ( )hio, at a very early day. 
He was there during the war of 1812, and was then a soldier, but 
did not participate in any engagement. 

He married, Elizabeth Kichardson on the 26th of January, 
1804. In December, 1832, he came to McLean County, Illinois, 
and settled on the east side of Money Creek timber. He lived 
during the first winter at the house of William Wilcox, but his 
sons, Ethan and Jonathan, lived in a small shanty about a mile 
distant in the woods, and there took care of the horses, cattle 
and sheep. 

James McAferty died November 30th, 1853. He had six 
children, all of whom lived to be grown. They are : 

John, James and William McAferty died many years ago, the 
first named in California. 

Sarah McAferty, who was never married, lives at Normal. 

Dr. Ethan McAferty lives between Money Creek and Mack- 
inaw timber. 

Jonathan McAferty died about eight years ago. 

Mr. McAferty was about six feet in height, and somewhat 
portly. He was a very kind, accommodating gentleman, too 



m'lean county. 711 

much so for his own good. He was always anxious to help his 
neighbors. He had a large orchard in Ohio, but never sold a 
bushel of apples. WheneveT his neighbors came for apples, the 
old gentleman made his boys stop work and gather them. He 
was a man who meddled with nobody's business but his own, and 
not much with his own. 

Dr. Ethan McAferty. 

Dr. Ethan McAferty, son of James McAferty, was born De- 
cember 11, 1816, in Fayette County, Ohio. There he had a pleas- 
ant life on a farm, but sometimes had his temper aroused, when 
his father made him gather apples to give away to other folks. 
In December, 1832, he came with the family to Money Creek 
timber. During the first winter Ethan and his brother Jonathan 
attended to the stock. 

Ethan McAferty occasionally did some hunting, and one ad- 
venture is told of him which was considered quite interesting at 
the time. He was out hunting with two hound puppies, and shot 
a deer. But it was only slightly injured, and when he took hold 
of it, it made a most active struggle. It was an enormous buck, 
and when he took hold of its antlers it started to run, and made 
the most astonishing leaps, dragging and jerking Mr. McAferty, 
and making his legs fly like whip-crackers. But he held on to 
the antlers, and as he was on one side of the deer he compelled 
it to run in a circle, and his puppies in the meantime kept up 
their attack, and at last it was thrown from its feet and killed. 

Ethan McAferty married, February 15, 1844, Maria Ogden, 
who is still living. They have never had any children. 

Dr. McAferty began to study medicine in 1850 with Dr. 
Rogers in Bloomington. The former had read medicine before ; 
but during this year he made it a special study. He studied until 
1852, then went to Iroquois County, there practiced until 1854 
and then came back to Lexington. Here he purchased a stock 
of dry goods, in company with Mr. Claggett, who managed the 
store while Dr. McAferty attended medical lectures at Rush Col- 
lege in Chicago. In 1865 Dr. McAferty began the practice of 
medicine, still continuing his attendance upon medical lectures. 

Dr. McAferty is six feet in height, and has light hazel eyes. 
He is tall and slim, has a pleasant expression on his countenance 



712 OLD SETTLERS OF 

and a peculiar humor acquired by the attendance upon lectures 
and the practice of medicine. He seems to be a man who would 
cheer a patient by the kindness of his manner and the pleasant- 
ness of his speech. He laughs at a good joke on himself, and ap- 
preciates it better than if it were at the expense of some one 
else. 

Samuel Ogden. 

Samuel Ogden, son of Albert Ogden, was born August 1, 1809, 
in Madison County, Ohio. He was early taught to work, for 
when he was only four or five years old his father gave him and 
his brother John each a hoe, and set them at work hoeing corn. 
Samuel made clean work of it, and hoed up weeds and corn in- 
discriminately. 

He was often taken to church by his mother, while he was 
small, and she tried to cultivate in him the love of orthodoxy. 
He never joined a church, as he could not decide which was the 
best. He very much preferred to attend horse-races, and went to 
see horses run before he was old enough to ride on a race-course 
himself. At the first race he ever saw, a number of horses ran 
for a corn purse, that is, every man, who ran his horse, put up 
some corn, and the winner took the pile. The race-course be- 
longed to old John Funk, who had cut up the corn around his 
field and made a track. Two or three years afterwards little 
Samuel became old enough to ride races himself. He became a 
good judge of horses, and in after years bought a fine mare called 
" Clear the Kitchen," which could, indeed, clear the kitchen or 
race-track either. The first time he put her on the track she beat 
a fine mare belonging to Colonel Gridley. He traded Clear the 
Kitchen for his Juliet mare, with which he won every race. 

Mr. Ogden began to hunt when he was big enough to ride a 
horse, and would chase turkeys and pheasants, and was sure to 
catch them the second time they flew up. He would chase deer 
across the level, open ground, near Deer Creek. He found a 
great difference in the speed of deer, as much as in the speed of 
horses. The long-legged bucks could run very fast, while the 
short-legged ones were easily caught. He hunted with dogs and 
kept them well in front, in order to give them a fair start, and 
they always brought down the game. Samuel Ogden hunted 



m'lean COUNTY. 713 

wolves, and on his first wolf chase jumped from his horse and 
caught a wolf by the throat and killed it. He never considered 
it a sin to kill a wolf on Sunday or any other day. These wolf 
hunts were taken after Mr. Ogden came to Illinois. 

In 1830 he married Nancy Vandolah, in Fayette County, Ohio. 
In the fall of 1833 he came to Money Creek timber, McLean 
County, Illinois. He had a muddy journey, but the oxen pulled 
the wagon through, and it was not very unpleasant. He bought 
a claim in Money Creek township, on the Mackinaw side, and 
commenced life as a farmer, but not under the best of circum- 
stances. He had a mare and colt, and an Indian pony. His mare 
died, and he was obliged to work his farm by hitching up a 
couple of calves in front of his Indian pony. He succeeded well 
and moved to Buck Creek north of the Mackinaw, where he 
entered the most of his land. He also bought some land, and 
for a part he paid six dollars per acre. He bought the Daily 
place of two hundred and sixty-five acres for ten thousand dollars. 
In buying land he was always careful to see that it was well 
watered. In 1845 he began to deal in cattle, and before long had 
two hundred head. He is now in comfortable circumstances, and 
everything he owns is paid for. His health is very good, though 
he suffers occasionally from a fall from a horse, which he was 
riding on a race-course at Peoria, some years ago. • The horse 
plunged, that is, jumped stiff-legged with its head down. Mr. 
Ogden takes his brandy occasionally, but does not believe in 
drinking much. He loves the good old times, when men would 
fight, not because they were angry, but in order to know who was 
the better man ; and when the contest would close they would 
"be friends and take a drink." Those were the days when mat- 
ters were conducted honorabl} T , and whoever was detected in foul 
play was sure to be counted out, and was not tolerated. Mr. 
Oo'den takes the best of care of his stock and feeds his horses 
well, for he says that the man, who neglects his horses, never be- 
comes rich. 

He has had eleven children, of whom eight grew up and five 
are living. They are : 

Obadiah Ogden, who lives about half a mile east of his 
father's. 

Mrs. Sarah Jane Coon, wife of James Coon, is now dead. 



714 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Albert Ogden lives about three-quarters of a mile southwest 
of his father's. 

Mrs. Angela Pirtle, wife of James Pirtle, lives a mile and a 
half north of her father's. 

Alexander Ogden lives at home. 

George Ogden (named after George Washington, with the 
Washington left out !) lives about five miles west of his father's, 
in the Coon settlement. 

Mr. Offden is about five feet and four inches in heiarht, is 
strongly set and muscular, has a broad face, black eyes, and short 
black whiskers. lie is very active, and few are equal to him in 
a foot-race. He is fond of good jokes and tells a great many of 
them. He is exceedingly tough, and will live to be ninety or a 
hundred years of age. 

Jonathan Ogden. 

Jonathan Ogden was born February 6, 1801, in Pickaway 
County, Ohio, on the Pickaway Plains, on the southeastern bank 
of the Ohio River. When he was two years of age the family 
moved to Madison County. There Jonathan grew up as most 
other boys did, with a fair development of fun and humor. The 
Ogden family farmed and raised stock and raced horses, and the 
latter was very agreeable to Jonathan. He did not wish to make 
a business of horse-racing, but wished to see what good horses 
could be raised. He often tested the speed of his horse by 
chasing turkeys and deer. He once chased a deer into a man's 
door-yard, and the latter killed it for Ogden, by the time he came 
up. Everybody chased deer in those days. Once, while gather- 
ing hickory nuts with his brothers and sisters, they heard tl^e 
baying of hounds, and hid until a deer came bounding along. 
Then they all rose with yells, and the frightened deer stopped 
until the hounds came up and took it. 

In 1833, Mr. Ogden came to Money Creek timber, McLean 
County, Illinois, where he arrived September 22nd. After living 
here a year, he moved to the Little Vermilion, where he spent 
another year, and then returned to Money Creek timber, where 
he has remained ever since. 

Mr. Ogden has had some little experience with the animals of 
the West, and speaks particularly of that vicious little creature, 



m'lean county. 715 

the badger, which makes the hardest fight for its "size of any wild 
animal in the West. The hack of its neck is covered by a skin 
so thick and tough, that nothing can hurt it there. This is the 
very place where a dog is likely to take hold of it; but the bad- 
ger scarcely minds it and tights harder than ever. It can never 
be whipped, until it is seized by the throat. 

Jonathan Ogden married, between Christmas and New Years, 
in 1824, Andria Rutan. He has had eleven children, all of whom 
are grown up. They are : 

Maria, wife of Isaac Coon, lives in Gridley township. 

Margaret died in her seventeenth year. 

Mary, wife of Adam Hinthorn, lives in Money Creek timber. 

Delilah, wife of Jacob Coon, is dead. 

Sarah, wife of Kelson Manning, lives at her father's house. 

Deborah, wife of Hiram Stretch, lives on the east side of 
Money Creek. 

Susan, wife of Joshua Busick, lives in Gridley township. 

Creighton Ogden lives at the head of the Mackinaw. 

Elizabeth, wife of Marion Busick, lives near Towanda. 

James H. and Daniel E. Ogden live at home. 

Mr. Ogden is less than the medium height, weighs not quite 
a hundred and forty pounds, has black e} 7 es and hair. His beard, 
once black, is now becoming gray. He feels the effects of age, 
but his temper is as kind and pleasant as ever. 

Madison Young. 

Madison Young was born November 18, 1812, in Fayette 
County, Ohio. His father's name was William Young, and his 
mother's name before her marriage was Mary Smith. William 
Young was born in Virginia and came to Ohio at an early day, 
where Madison was born. In 1832 William Young came to 
Mackinaw timber, but Madison Young could not make up his 
mind to leave Ohio so soon. He had hunted there, and liked the 
country and the game ; but in the year 1833 he followed up the 
family and came to Mackinaw timber. He traveled on horse- 
back, and came through without remarkable difficulty. He im- 
mediately began trying the quality of western venison, and brought 
down the deer in great numbers, indeed he almost made hunting 
his business. 



716 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Young |;ave an eloquent description of the sudden freeze 
of December, 1836, and told how the chickens froze fast in the 
slush. But he laughed so hard and so good-naturedly while tell- 
ing it, that it was impossible to remember what he said. 

Mr. Young married in March, 1836, Sidney Ann Messer, who 
died in April, 1850. He married again in June, 1852, Catherine 
Caroline Young. Although she bore the same family name she 
was not related to him before her marriage. 

Mr. Young has had six children, three by his first marriage, 
and three by the second. They are : 

William Young, who lives in Gridley township. 

Isaac Young, who lives in Lexington township. 

Sarah Almira, married to George Kemp, lives in Chenoa 
township. 

Mary Jane, married to George Glaze, lives in Money Creek 
township. 

Andrew and Thomas Young live at home. 

Mr. Young is about five feet and nine inches in height, has a 
sanguine complexion and white hair. He is very healthy and 
exceedingly jolly. He loves to talk, when he can stop laughing 
long enough to do so, and the man who speaks to him is made to 
feel at home immediately. He has many queer ideas, and when 
he hears or tells a good joke he is not afraid to laugh at it heart- 
ily and strongly. He has a queer philosophy, and takes the 
world easy. He was once asked by a neighbor why he did not 
put a new roof on his house, " Oh," said Mr. Young in reply, 
"when it don't rain I don't need it, and when it does rain I can't 
do it ! haw, haw, haw !" 

James Roysten Wiley. 

James R. Wiley was born November 21, 1820, in Switzerland 
County, Indiana. His father's name was John R. Wiley, and his 
mother's maiden name was Hannah Sampson ; both were Amer- 
icans, and born in Maryland. John R. Wiley was taken to Ken- 
tucky when very young, and afterwards moved to Switzerland 
County, Indiana, where James was born. 

In the fall of 1835 the Wiley family came to the West. They 
had a cold, wet journey, and did not arrive until November, after 
traveling twenty-two days. Young James exercised himself by 



m'lean county. 717 

driving the cattle and sheep. The family was often stopped by 
high water, and the sheep gave great trouble, for they were ob- 
liged to swim rivers so often that they dreaded the water, and it 
was frequently necessary to take them by the horns and drag 
them across. When they arrived at the head of the Mackinaw, 
their troubles were, by no means, ended, as they could not go to 
mill and were obliged to pound hominy for six weeks. They 
afterwards made the usual trips to mill in all directions, sometimes 
to Ottawa, sometimes to Cheney's Grove, and elsewhere. 

Mr. Wiley has done some hunting, as the old settlers would, 
but had no very remarkable adventure. He has had the usual 
experience with prairie fires, has had a great deal of fencing and 
many stacks burned up. 

Mr. Wiley married, October 12, 1843, Sarah R. Lineback. 
He has sometimes taken his family back to visit their friends in 
Indiana, and occasionally had some lively adventures by the way. 
At one time, while crossing Sugar Creek with his wife and child, 
when it w T as high, the wagon sank so low that they went into the 
water to their waists, and the horses could scarcely get footing. 
The wagon was carried down stream by the current, and things 
appeared scarey for a moment, but at last the horses scrambled 
out. Mr. Wiley made up his mind never to swim his horses 
again, but he did ; he crossed the Kankakee, and swam the Des- 
plaines with a four-horse team. Eleven men out of thirteen had 
been drowned in the Desplaines the day before he crossed. 

Mr. Wiley has had only two children, one of whom is living. 
They are : 

Mrs. Hannah Ogden, wife of Obadiah Ogden, lives with her 
father at the homestead. 

John E. Wiley was killed when sixteen years of age by the 
fall of a horse. 

Mr. Wiley is about five feet and six inches in height ; he is 
rather lightly built, is active and industrious, and does not like to 
see w T eeds in his corn. He has a kind expression on his counte- 
nance, but is very determined, has a great deal of courage, is 
very active and quick-sighted, and it would be an active deer or 
wolf that would escape him. . He is a gentleman in manners and 
feeling. He is a model farmer, looks after everything, and does 
not put in any more corn than he can attend to. He plows eight 



718 OLD SETTLERS OF 

acres of corn a clay, and attends to forty acres himself very con- 
veniently. He has three hundred and sixteen acres of land in 
his farm, and it is all well taken care of. It is all under fence, 
and what is not under cultivation is in pasture. He keeps good 
graded stock, and has from fifty to seventy-five head of cattle. 
The cattle, which he sent to market last spring, averaged sixteen 
hundred and sixty pounds ; they were the best "bunch" of cattle 
that had been to the Lexington yards for twelve months. The 
farm, where he lives, is in the edge of the Mackinaw timber, 
where he has his pasture shaded by trees, and his land under 
cultivation is the rich prairie. 

Wesley Fletcher Bishop. 

Wesley F. Bishop was born January 15, 1817, in Madison 
County, Alabama. His father's name was William G. Bishop, 
and his mother's maiden name was Rebecca Briggs; both were 
of English descent. William Bishop was a cabinet maker, and 
made cotton gins and household furniture, but during the latter 
part of his life was a farmer. When Wesley Bishop was five 
years of age, the family moved to Wayne County, Indiana, near 
Centerville. Here he went to school with a young man, named 
Fox, who afterwards became the great leader of a band of rob- 
bers in the northwest. He was the man who murdered Colonel 
Davenport at Rock Island. The father of the Foxes was con- 
sidered an honest, upright citizen. In 1829 or 30, the family 
moved to the Wabash, near the present town of Delphi. It was 
laborious work for the Bishops to raise corn, for the wild animals 
were numerous and troublesome. When it was planted, the 
coons would come at night, move along the rows, smell out the 
corn and eat up every kernel, unless they were watched and 
driven off, until the corn started and the kernel was rotted. In 
the latter part of the summer, and in the fall, the black birds 
came in swarms and ate the corn, and the deer came in great 
numbers at night, so that it seemed almost impossible to protect 
the corn and gather it. 

The great curiosity or object of interest in Indiana, was, for 
many years, the battle ground of Tippecanoe. In about the 
year 1834, (Mr. Bishop thinks,) the bones of the soldiers were 
collected and buried with great honor. The people came from 



m'lean county. 719 

several counties and States around and collected them. A man, 
named Tipton, from Logansport, delivered an address, and the 
people had a great barbecue. They roasted an ox and made 
indeed a grand celebration. 

In the spring of 1836, the Bishop family came to McLean 
County, Illinois, but Wesley Bishop stayed in Indiana for a 
while to attend to some unfinished business, and came out in the 
fall with a drove of cattle. The family settled on the Jacob 
Spawr farm, on the edge of Money Creek timber, on the main 
State road from Springfield to Chicago. 

In the winter of 1836-7, Wesley Bishop taught school in 
Money Creek township. In December of that winter, occurred 
the sudden change in the weather, so often described. On that 
day a man, named Popejoy, was on the road to Bloomington for 
a petition for a new county, and passed Bishop's school house. 
Not long afterwards the sudden change came on and Bishop dis- 
missed his school. Pretty soon Popejoy came riding back, but 
was frozen to his saddle and required assistance to dismount. 
Mr. Bishop received as his wages, while teacher, twenty dollars 
per month and boarded himself. He was the first school treasu- 
rer for Money Creek township, and the first money he drew for 
school purposes from the county was twenty-five dollars and 
eighteen cents. "When the people wanted a school house they 
were obliged to build it out of their own pockets. 

Mr. Bishop is a universal genius. He needed some brick, 
and straightway he started a brickyard and made them. The 
rats troubled him very much around his barn, and he immedi- 
ately exercised his genius and made a barn which was rat-proof. 
These are only a few of the forms in which his genius continu- 
ally sprouts. In the spring of 1864, Mr. Bishop enlisted in 
Company E, of the One Hundred and Thirty-third Illinois 
Volunteers, as a hundred day man. He was too old to be 
"drafted, but he wanted to render some assistance to the govern- 
ment in the great struggle. He left his brick yard and his busi- 
ness in other hands and started. He sought for no office, but 
served as a private. The regiment was stationed at Rock Island 
and they had a very pleasant time indeed. 

Mr. Bishop married, August 10, 1837, Prudence Barrack- 
man, whose family lived on the Vermilion River. He has had 



720 OLD SETTLERS OF 

three children, who are living and settled around him. They 
are : 

Francis Bishop, who lives about a mile northeast of his 
father's. 

Mary Ann Bishop is married to Samuel Carey and lives at 
the homestead. 

Daniel J. Bishop, lives just east of his father's. He enlisted 
in the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers and served three years 
to a day. He saw some hard campaigning, was at Prairie Grove, 
Vicksburg and Fort Morgan. 

Mr. Bishop is about five feet and eight inches in height, is 
muscular and tough, has rather a broad face and is good natured 
and honest. He lives up to his agreements, is very industrious 
and quick to see a chance to make a short turn. He is a man 
who thinks a great deal of principle. He believes in developing 
the resources of the country, and thinks that America has mines 
of every kind, which should be developed to their utmost capa- 
city. He is an ardent protectionist and believes that if the policy 
of Henry Clay had been pursued, the country would have been 
far better developed, and in a much more flourishing condition. 
He is very decided in his opinions, and thinks the children of 
to-day should receive a practical education, which they do not 
receive in schools. 

William Crose. 

William Crose was born September 12, 1814, in Pickaway 
County, Ohio. His father's name was Philip Crose, and his 
mother's maiden name was Priscilla Becks. Philip Crose was a 
soldier of the Revolutionary war, being old enough to go into the 
army during the last six months of the struggle. He drew a 
pension until his death, which occurred in about the year 1837. 
When William Crose was about three years old, the family came 
to Shawneetown, Illinois, but after a few years moved to Eet 
River, Indiana, then after a few years went to where Crawfords- 
ville, Ind., now stands. When William Crose was thirteen years 
of age, he was bound out to Elijah Funk, a farmer, in Warren 
County, Indiana, but at the age of twenty, became his own man. 
He went to Pickaway County, where he was a farm laborer and 
drover. He drove one hundred and forty cattle five hundred and 



m'lban county. 721 

thirty-three miles, to Philadelphia. He was forty-seven days on 
the road, and when he had disposed of his cattle he returned in 
eleven days and a half. 

He married, November 13, 1833, Eliza Ann Busick. He lived 
there nearly a year, then in Indiana three years, and in 1837 came 
to Randolph Grove, McLean County, Illinois. After working 
hard for eight or nine years he accumulated some little property, 
began to think himself rich, and wished to take the world easy. 
He took a great interest in sporting, and kept the finest and 
fleetest hounds for running wolves and deer. Mr. Crose says 
that deer, when chased by dogs, will actually run themselves to 
death. He knows this by actual experiment ; he once chased a 
buck until it laid down and died before being touched. He has 
had great sport with wolves, and once tried to tame one of these 
vicious animals, but could not even break it to be led. He tied 
a chain to its neck and fastened the other end of the chain to his 
wagon, but the wolf would allow itself to be dragged for miles 
without walking. He has hunted the otter, and found it an ex- 
ceedingly cunning animal, which goes into its hole under water 
and works up under the bank above the water's mark. He once 
broke into an otter's hole when twenty feet from the pond, where 
it lived. The routine of the year then was — in the winter time 
hunting wolves and deer, in the spring ploughing and planting, 
and in the fall going to Chicago and selling oats for twelve and 
a half cents per bushel. After hunting for a few years, Mr. 
Crose saw that he must let his gun and dogs alone, and pay more 
attention to business. 

Eighteen years ago he sold out and went to Iowa, but there 
his health failed him, and he returned to Illinois, and bought the 
land where he now lives, midway between Lexington and To- 
wanda, and has since succeeded pretty well. He has had eleven 
children altogether, of whom ten are living. They are : 

Harriet, wife of John Padgett, lives in the Upper Mackinaw 
timber. 

Lowisa, wife of Peter Janes, lives in Money Creek township. 

Elijah Crose lives in Towanda. 

Termin Crose is a farmer, and lives in Money Creek. 

Eliza Ann, wife of George Janes, lives in Lexington town- 
ship. 

46 



722 OLD SETTLERS OF 

William Crose lives at home with his father. 

Emma, wife of David Turnipseed, lives in the Upper Macki- 
naw timber. 

George Crose lives in Towanda. 

Sarah Jane, wife of David Wisner, lives in Indiana. 

Philip Crose lives at home with his father. 

Mr. Crose is about five feet and nine inches in height, has 
reddish-brown hair and whiskers, a slightly Roman nose, and 
rather small eves. He seems pretty muscular, and is a man of 
good temper. If he has difficulty with anyone, it is pretty cer- 
tain that he has good cause for it, for his disposition is peaceable 
and he wishes to be on good terms with his neighbors. He is a 
very fair-minded man, is open to argument, and has none of that 
obstinacy of opinion, which induces men to shut their ears to 
new ideas. 

MOUNT HOPE. 

George Maley Stubblefield. 

George M. Stubblefield, son of Robert Stubblefield, was named 
after a noted Methodist preacher in Ohio, named George Maley. 
George was born August 29, 1823, in Fayette County, Ohio. In 
December, 1824, the Stubblefield family came to Illinois, and 
George was carried in the arms of his mother, who rode on horse- 
back. They settled in Funk's Grove, in what is now McLean 
County. 

George Stubblefield remembers many things concerning the 
early settlement of the country, notwithstanding his extreme 
youth, when the family came to Illinois. He remembers the 
building of the first school-house in Funk's Grove, which was 
done by Robert Guthrie. Young George carried water for the 
men, while they were at work. The school-house was eighteen 
by twenty feet long, was made of logs hewed on one side, had a 
clapboard roof and a puncheon floor. On the north and west 
sides were windows which extended the whole length and width 
of the room. They were made by hewing off one-half of two 
logs, which joined each other. The lights were formed by placing 
sticks upright and putting over them paper greased with lard. 



m'lean county. 723 

On the east side of the building was a tire-place, which was large 
enough to receive a log eight feet long. It was in this house, that 
George Stubblefield received what education he obtained. During 
the winter of the deep snow the teacher in this school-house, 
Andrew Biggs, was obliged to move up to it and live there. The 
Stubblefields lived about a mile from the school-house, and Mr. 
Stubblefield was obliged to go back and forth once a day until it 
stopped snowing, in order to keep the road broken. This old 
school-house has long since been torn down, and has gone with 
the old settlers, who built it. A tine church has been erected on 
the spot, and Funk's Grove Cemetery is near by. 

When George Stubblefield became old enough to be " of some 
account," it was his business to go to mill. He was accustomed 
to go to Knapp's mill, near Waynesville. In 1836 he went with 
his father to Chicago with a load of sweet potatoes and a barrel 
of eggs. There he saw his uncle, Absalom Funk, who was so 
well known to the early settlers. Chicago then had no houses 
north of the river. The latter was simply a large muddy slough 
full of flags and bullrushes. The United States still kept a gar- 
rison at Fort Dearborn. The Indians were plenty, as during that 
fall a payment was to be made to them by the government. On 
the road to Chicago, George Stubblefield passed through Joliet, 
which then contained only two houses. 

The sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, is often 
described. Mr. Stubblefield remembers another change, which 
seemed nearly as severe. In about the year 1848, as he and his 
brother Absalom and three others were going to Pekin with a 
drove of swine, the weather turned cold at about nine o'clock at 
night, after a rain or heavy mist. The next morning they crossed 
Mosquito Creek on the ice, which had frozen during the night. 
The prairie was a sheet of ice, and though they traveled with 
their swine from sunrise to sunset, their entire day's journey was 
only three miles. 

Mr. Stubblefield has seen prairie fires, of course, but they 
were protected by Sugar Creek, which the fires never jumped 
but once. 

At the early age of fifteen, George Stubblefield was quite a 
lady's man, and often went to see the girlish friend, who after- 
wards became Mrs. Stubblefield. The first deer he killed was 



724 OLD SETTLERS OF 

within a few rods of her father's door. It will be noticed, that 
the young men in those da} T s won the favor of women by manly 
exercises. He chased this deer with hounds, which brought it 
down near the door of the house of Samuel Murphy, and George 
killed it with his pocket-knife. George Stubblefield was a gal- 
lant young man, and was always moved by beauty in distress. 
He was once delighted at the opportunity of rescuing a lady, Avho 
had fallen from a log into Sugar Creek, into eight feet of water. 
This, however, cannot be made the subject of a romance, for he 
never married her, and never will. 

The western country was never too new for peddlers, and Mr. 
Stubblefield remembers when they came round with their tin- 
ware, teapots and pewter spoons, which they traded for deer 
skins, wolf skins, and ginseng. He has spent many a day in 
digging ginseng, in order to purchase some little trinket. 

The settlers from Funk's Grove often did their trading in 
Springfield, and it was customary for them to do trading for their 
neighbors, and take their neighbors' produce to market. Mr. 
Stubblefield remembers a certain Mr. Alloway, who took some 
butter, which belonged to a neighbor, to Springfield to sell. The 
butter was rather old, and when the merchant, who was to buy 
it, tried it with his knife, the butter crumbled to pieces. Allo- 
way looked on with astonishment, and exclaimed with his lisping 
tongue : "My God, Mither, that's not my butter !" 

The old settlers were usually full of energy and nearly all 
things related of them show their industry and activity ; but Mr. 
Stubblefield relates an incident of David Stout, which shows 
quite a contrary disposition. The latter was once returning home 
from Springfield with a blanket wrapped around him and tied to 
his neck with a string. By some accident it fell to the ground. 
He did not stop to pick it up, but went home and sent back his 
son for it, a distance of several miles. 

Mr. Stubblefield remembers a great many interesting inci- 
dents concerning the old settlers, and particularly those which 
were humorous. He tells one of his uncle, Isaac Funk, which 
shows the disposition of that energetic man quite plainly. When 
Mr. Isaac Funk went to call on Miss Cassandra Sharp, of Peoria, 
who afterwards became his wife, he was obliged to cross the Illi- 
nois River in a boat. Several others were with him, and they 



m'lean county. 725 

determined to upset the boat and make him call on Ids lady in 
wet clothes.* They knew he could not swim, but supposed he 
would cling to the boat. Near the middle of the river the boal 
was capsized, hut floated out of Isaac's reach. But he fortunate- 
ly grasped a paddle, and whenever he went down, he struck the 
paddle on the bottom of the river and pressed himself near shore 
and at last came out in safety. 

George Stubblefield tells an incident, which shows something 
of the disposition of his father, old Robert Stubblefield. Two 
young men once came to Robert Stubblefield's house and re- 
mained over night. They were not at all respectful, and in the 
morning Mrs. Stubblefield gave them some good advice, and a 
motherly lecture on the subject of good breeding. One of the 
young men, as he was leaving the house, disputed her word — told 
her she lied ! Mr. Stubblefield, who was coming in, heard the 
remark. He stepped into a shed near by, picked up his horse- 
whip and caught the young men, as they mounted their horses in 
a lane, where they could not get out. He was left-handed, but 
he dusted their jackets fearfully, and almost split their coats from 
their baeks. This whipping made up for what the young men 
failed to receive in their younger days. Several persons wit- 
nessed the performance, and a man, named Mulky, laughed so 
hard that he was obliged to hold himself up by the fence. 

Among the funny stories told by Mr. Stubblefield is one re- 
lating to a widow, who lived at Funk's Grove. A doctor in 
Bloomington occasionally paid his respects to this charming 
widow, and called twice to see her on the important subject of 
matrimony. Shortly afterwards, one of her family was sick, and 
she sent for the doctor on professional services, and when he had 
given her child some medicine, she inquired his bill, and lie said. 
"two dollars." "Well," said the widow, "Dr. Wheeler, you 
have called on me twice and stayed two evenings, and your bill 
is two dollars; I guess we will call it settled !" Dr. Wheeler 
went back to Bloomington with a number of large fleas hopping 
around his ears. 

The young men in the early days were " sometimes up to their 
capers." Mr. Stubblefield tells of two young men from near 
Wayncsville, who were in the habit of coming to Funk's Grove 
to steal apples from Robert Funk. These young men wished 



726 OLD SETTLERS OF 

James Biggs and John Vesey to assist them, and the assistance 
was promised'. But the latter gentlemen made arrangements 
with other parties to he in the orchard and fire when the apple 
thieves should come. In the night the party came and filled a 
couple of sacks with apples, and Biggs proposed to whistle up 
"Old Bobhy," as they called Mr. Funk. When he whistled a 
gun was fired, and Biggs fell, saying: "Run for your lives !" 
The parties ran, leaving sacks and apples, and as they mounted 
their horses a second shot was fired, and Vesey fell, saying: 
"Run, boys, run !" The apple thieves obeyed the injunction. 
They stopped at the widow Brock's, about four miles distant, and 
reported Biggs and Vesey killed, but the latter appeared in good 
spirits the next morning- The young men from "Waynesville 
neglected to call at "Old Bobby's" to cret their sacks. 

Mr. Stubblefield tells a good story on his brother Absalom. 
Absalom, John and George once went to bathe in the east fork 
of Sugar Creek. Absalom went in and was carried .down by the 
current, to where the water was deep ; and as he could not swim 
he floundered and plashed, until he reached the opposite shore. 
He came out puffing, and soon the troublesome question arose, 
how to return. He dared not go into the creek again, and it was 
a mile or more to the nearest crossing. In the meantime the 
flies and mosquitoes swarmed around and almost covered him. 
He slapped them right and left, and in his anguish exclaimed : 
"I never will go into the water again until I learn to swim !" He 
was obliged to walk a mile or more up the creek to the crossing, 
and then back to the place of bathing. 

George Stubblefield is about five feet and ten inches in height, 
and weighs about two hundred and forty pounds. He is a great 
lover of fun, as this sketch clearly shows. He is very muscular, 
and has the magnanimity which such men frequently possess. 
He dislikes to see any one imposed upon or oppressed by persons 
of superior muscle. He has been very successful in life, and so 
far as property is concerned is very comfortably situated. He 
married, March 15, 1850, Eliza Jane Murphy, the daughter of 
Samuel Murphy. She was born in July, 1832, the year of the 
Black HaAvk war. She is a lady of quick perception and a good 
deal of tact, and appreciates wit and humor quite as well as Mr. 
Stubblefield. They have six children, five boys and one girl. 
They are : 



m'lean county. 727 

Charles Wesley Stubblefield, who is a student at the Wesl cyan 
University. 

Mary Elizabeth, Samuel W., Joseph W., Isaac and Taddy, 
live at home. The latter is the pet, of course. 

Jesse Stubblefield. 

Jesse Stubblefield, fourth son of Robert Stubblefield, was 
born July 30, 1825, at Funk's Grove. He received such an edu- 
cation as could be obtained by the son of a pioneer. His youth 
was not at all extraordinary, but was spent in life on a farm. In 
1851, he began farming and stock raising on his own account on 
the farm where he now resides in the township of Mount Hope. 
His land, one hundred and sixty acres, was entered by him in 
1851. In 1852, he received one hundred and sixty acres of land 
from Thomas Cuppy, his father-in-law. The last named gentle- 
man had entered the land and paid for it with a warrant, obtained 
originally from a soldier who had served in the Mexican war. 
Mr. Stubblefield has continually added to his land, and now has 
about one thousand acres. 

Mr. Stubblefield has a lively recollection of the incidents of 
the early settlement of the country, and remembers particularly 
the sudden change of December, 1836, and how his father's pigs 
were frozen by the intense cold. 

Mr. Stubblefield's first sight of Chicago was in 1845, when 
he and his father and Absalom and George, made a trip to the 
place. They camped out along the way in the primitive style, 
and their slumbers were soothed by the howling of wolves. They 
sold their wheat for thirty-seven and one-half cents per bushel 
and returned. 

Mr. Stubblefield tells a few lively hunting stories, for he fre- 
quently indulged in the sport of catching wolves and deer. At 
one time, while hunting, a deer was brought to bay by the 
hounds, and Lamon Hougham, who came up with a party of 
others, attempted to kill the deer with a spear. But his horse 
became restive and threw him on the horns of the buck. He 
held fast to the antlers, and James Funk attempted to shoot it, 
but stopped for fear of killing men or dogs. At last, George 
Stubblefield ended the exciting contest by killing the deer with 
his pocket knife. 



728 OLD SETTLERS OF 

George and Adam Stubblefield ouce had an exciting wolf 
chase on the ice of the creek, and Adam succeeded in catching 
the wolf by the hind legs, but let it loose to see it fight the dogs. 
The result was another chase of half a mile, to get possession of 
the wolf. 

Mr. Jesse Stubblefield did not begin to pay his addresses to 
the ladies as early as his brother George. Mr. Jesse Stubblefield 
married Miss Rebecca Cuppy, August 14, 1851. By this mar- 
riage he had five children, of whom four are living. They are : 

Thomas, Robert, John C. and Sarah Rebecca, and all live at 
home. Mrs. Stubblefield died March 25, 1862". She was a most 
excellent wife and mother. 

On the seventh of September, 1863, Mr. Stubblefield married 
Mary C. Showdy, daughter of George W. Showdy, deceased, of 
Logan County. She is a most amiable and accomplished lady, 
very kind in her manner and entertaining in her conversation. 
By this marriage Mr. Stubblefield has had six children, of whom 
five are living. They are : 

Ida May, James W., Dorothy, George Showdy and William 
Martin. They all live at home. 

Mr. Stubblefield is six feet and two and a-half inches in 
height and weighs two hundred and twenty pounds. His hair 
was formerly brown, but now is becoming gray. His eyes are 
gray and have a pleasant, humorous expression. He is a first 
chiss business man, which appears to be a characteristic of the 
Stubblefield family. He is a man of public spirit and was twice 
commissioner of highways of Mt. Hope township. He takes an 
interest in education, and for twelve years has been a school 
director. He has met with great success as a stock raiser. 

William Hieronymus. 

A\ 7 illiam Hieronymus was born February 13, 1788, at the foot 
of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. His parents were of 
English and Dutch descent. He was raised on a farm and led a 
farmer's life. When he was a young man, he and his father 
went to Madison County, Kentucky, to look at the country, and 
were so well pleased with it, that William remained to raise a 
crop, while his father returned for the family, which came out 
in the fall. William Hieronymus married, August 14, 1811, 



m'lean county. 729 

Alvira Darnell, probably in Madison County. During the war 
of 1812, he was drafted, but the situation of his family made it 
impossible for him to leave, so he hired a substitute. He fol- 
lowed boat-building for a while, as business of building flatboats 
was one which grew with the growth of commerce. He was a 
skillful workman witl} a broadaxe, and could handle it to per- 
fection. In the year 1818, he went to Boone County, Missouri, 
and settled on the Missouri River. The place is now washed 
awa}' and forms the channel of the stream. He lived three years 
in Missouri, then went back to Kentucky to his old home, then, 
after a few years, went to the Big Bone Lick. This lick is a 
deep lake of mud and water, the water being very shallow. The 
mud has apparently no bottom. The animals, which in former 
years went there to drink, sank down and died. Their bones 
are so numerous that the place is called the Big Bone Lick. The 
bones of many curious animals have been found there ; and par- 
ticularly curious were the bones of the large mammoth, which 
was placed in Barnum's museum. Enoch Hieronymus has 
seen a bone from this lake, large enough for nine men to sit on. 
The water of the lake was impregnated with sulphur, and people 
from the surrounding country came there to drink it for their 
health. In the fall of 1828, William Hieronymus started for 
Illinois. His family moved with several other families, number- 
ing in all forty-two persons. The oldest man in the company 
was George Henline, whose sons John, George, Henry, William 
and David, all had families. They camped the last night of 
their journey in Blooming Grove, at what is now called the 
Nathan Low farm, then owned by a Mr. Latta, and the next day 
went to Hittle's Grove in Tazewell County, where they made 
arrangements for locations. Old George Henline and Plenry 
and David remained at Hittle's Grove; but John, George, jr. 
and William, settled on the head waters of the Mackinaw, where 
they made a permanent location. William Hieronymus went 
from Hittle's Grove to Hieronymus Grove, in October, 1828, 
and there threw up a half faced camp. During the winter, he 
built a small cabin, in which he lived for some years. In the 
following spring he opened up a small farm, which was carried 
on by his sons, while he made looms, barrels, stocks of ploughs, 
etc. He was very skillful in the use of tools. He worked at 



730 OLD SETTLERS OF 

this business more or less until his death, which occurred March 
12, 1848. 

William Hieronymus was a tall man, standing six feet and 
two and one-half inches. His bones were large and his features 
prominent. Hieronymus Grove received its name from him. 
He had nine children, of whom only three, are living. They are : 

Enoch Hieronymus, who lives in Alt. Hope township, in 
McLean County, in the edge of Hieronymus Grove. 

Benjamin Hieronymus, who lives at the head of Indian 
Grove, in Livingston County, and 

William Hieronymous, jr., who lives on the homestead place. 

Enoch Hieronymus. 

Enoch Hieronymus was born March 7, 1816, in Aladison 
County, Kentucky. He accompanied the family wherever it 
went, as stated in the preceding sketch of his father. In his 
younger days he worked a great deal in the tobacco patch, but 
acquired a distaste for tobacco and never used it. He thinks 
young men should all have an opportunity to work in a tobacco 
patch. 

In the fall of 1828, the family came to Illinois. Here Enoch 
worked hard ; nevertheless, he was fond of hunting. He hunted 
deer and turkeys, and trapped mink and otter. He once came 
close to a panther while hunting, but did not succeed in killing 
it. He was watching a deer lick, and heard a deer come plash- 
ing through the water, and while watching for it, a panther came 
up on its trail. The panther stopped within two or three rods of 
Enoch and sat down. He attempted to shoot it, but the flint- 
lock flashed in the pan, and as he had no more powder in the 
horn, he stood still, and man and beast watched each other in- 
tently. The panther was motionless, except a gentle waving of 
its tail. Enoch called for his dog, and the moment the bull-dog 
came in sight, the panther fled. Enoch went home for powder, 
and wished to hunt the panther, but his bull-dog, which never 
had flinched before, could not be induced to take the lead. Enoch 
was then only fourteen or fifteen years of age. 

During the winter of the deep snow the Hieronymus family 
pounded corn, of course, as it was exceedingly difficult to go to 
mill, and when they did go, they were obliged to travel on horse- 



m'lean county. 731 

l>ack. He made snow-shoes that winter out of boards ten indies 
square, which were lashed to his feet, and with these he could 
chase the deer. He could travel over the snow with them very 
well, though sometimes they would go down with him. 

The settlers went to Bloomington for doctors. Enoch Hier- 
onymus once went to Bloomington during the night, for a doctor, 
and returned the same night. 

Enoch was a great rail splitter, and made six thousand four 
hundred and twenty rails in one lot. He commenced between 
Christmas and New Years, and worked until the middle of March. 
During the winter and spring of 1838-9, he made and hauled 
rails enough to enclose fifty acres of land. 

He married, August 22, 1839, Elizabeth A. Thompson, who 
was born April 14, 1819, in Dixon County, Tennessee. Her 
parents came to Illinois in 1829, and lived six months in Sanga- 
mon County; then they moved to the Forks of the Creek settle- 
ment, in what is now Logan County. There Elizabeth lived until 
her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Hieronymus have never had any 
children of their own, but raised the orphan children of James 
Hieronymus, who died in 1848. The wife of James died a few 
months before her husband. Enoch and his wife took to their 
house one girl, two boys, and one infant child. Another infant 
child, twin to the first, was raised by the sister of Mrs. Hierony- 
mus. The infant taken b} 7 Mrs. Hieronymus soon died. The 
two boys and the girl have grown up, and are happily married 
and settled in life. They are : 

Mrs. Alvira McAtee, wife of Benjamin McAtee, lives in Wasco 
County, Oregon. 

Benjamin R. Hieronymus now lives in Tazewell County, 
within a half a mile of the homestead. 

Thomas H. Hieroirymus lives within three-quarters of a mile 
of the homestead, in Tazewell County. 

Both Benjamin and Thomas served about three years in the 
army. They enlisted under Captain Kinsey, and served in Com- 
pany E, One Hundred and Seventeenth Illinois. 

Benjamin was elected a lieutenant, and served for a while as 
captain. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hieronymus thought as much of these children 
as their own parents could, and now are anxious for their welfare 
and proud of their success. 



732 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Hieronymus has done some hard work. He and his wife, 
after their marriage, determined " to buy first what they needed 
worst, and only what they could, and afterwards what they 
would." They lived seven years in a log cabin, which Enoch 
Hieronymus built. The material for their present substantial 
house was brought from many quarters. Mr. Hieronymus cut 
some of the timber and hauled it to be sawed. He hauled the 
rest of the lumber from Chicago. 

Mr. Hieronymus has done very well in worldly matters. He 
has had about a thousand acres of land, and has now about four 
hundred and sixty acres. In 1869 he built a Christian Church at 
Hieronymus Grove, and it is called the Hieronymus Grove 
Church. He is about five feet and nine inches in height, and is 
rather slim. The lines on his face would indicate decision of 
character and kindness of heart. He is perfectly straightforward 
in his dealings, and is remarkable for his peculiar tenderness of 
feeling. In this respect his wife is very much like him. 

John Hougham. 

John Hougham was born November 19, 1810, in Highland 
County, Ohio. His father's name was Runyon Hougham, and 
his mother's name before her marriage was Sarah Lamon. His 
father was of English descent, and his mother of Dutch. John 
Hougham never cut up many capers in Ohio, but was always a 
moral young man. He came with the family to the State of Illi- 
nois, to Funk's Grove, McLean County, in the fall of 1831. They 
had a hard time coming through the sloughs, and were once two 
days in going ten miles. They were sometimes water-bound, and 
were obliged to make bridges. When they came to the Wabash 
prairie they found the sloughs without bottom. When he arrived 
here, he worked on his father's farm. He has never traveled 
much, and has had very few adventures. He intended to see a 
great deal of the world, before he settled down, but failed to 
carry out this resolution. He remembers the sudden change of 
weather in December, 183t>, and says it was the " awfullest, 
quickest change he ever saw." He was then out hunting turkeys, 
but came home suddenly. He never hunted much, except after 
turkeys, and he " reckons he has killed right smart of them."' 



m'lban county. 733 

He used to wrestle a great deal, as all the early settlers did, and 
was thrown only once in his life, " best two out of three." 

Mr. Hougham is not much of a traveler, though he once 
drove hogs to Galena. But he said it hurt his feet terribly, and 
that "if God would forgive him for going that time, he would 
never go again." 

In the year 1840, Mr. Hougham found the woman of his 
choice. He married Miss Eliza Ann Brock, on the 4th of April 
of that year. She is yet living. He says he was only married 
once, that was enough for him ; it was necessary to have some 
woman to take care of him. 

In politics, Mr. Hougham is an old time Democrat. In answer 
to the question as to how he came to be a Democrat, he said that 
his father was a Democrat and all the family likewise, and that 
he came to be a Democrat as a matter of course. He voted first 
for General Jackson, and continued to vote for him three times, 
and has ever since voted for Jackson's friends. He says he never 
pulled wires in his life, or wrote a political document, or made a 
stump speech. He does not approve of stump speaking, and will 
not patronize it, as he thinks it does more injury than good. His 
opinion of Petroleum V. ISTasby is, that the latter has done more 
harm than good to the Democratic party. He thinks the Chicago 
Times is the best paper printed, and the only objection to it is its 
fine type. He now takes the Bloomington Democrat, because it 
costs $1.50 per annum, and he wishes to patronize " home con- 
sumption." Mr. Hougham did not vote for Horace Greeley du- 
ring the last campaign, though he considered Greeley a very smart 
man. But his objection was, that the latter brought on the war 
of the rebellion. He was the disturbing cause and responsible 
for it, though the South did not do altogether right. It was Mr. 
Houghain's opinion, after considering the matter carefully, that 
Greeley was nominated for the purpose of " running in Grant," 
so he determined to vote for " nary a one of 'em." 

Mr. Hougham has taken very little interest in religious mat- 
ters, though he once contributed ten cents to the TTniversalists. 

In personal appearance Mr. Hougham is six feet and one inch 
in height, and weighs two hundred and fifty-six pounds. He very 
much resembles Horace Greeley, though the latter did not have 
the winning smile which Mr. Hougham's countenance wears, and 



734 OLD SETTLERS OF 

an acute observer might detect several points of difference in 
their intellectual development. Mr. Hougham is a kind man, 
and a pleasant neighbor. He is anxious that his name shall be 
spelled correctly, and is annoyed to think that a "heap of people 
spell it Huffam." 

The author would have been glad to have written a sketch of 
Lamon Hougham also, but the latter refused to give any items of 
his life, as he " did not wish to encourage speculation in books." 

Westley Houoham. 

Westley Hougham, the brother of John Hougham, was born 
March 3, 1820, in Highland County, Ohio. He was always a 
moral boy, and never cut up capers or shines. He came to 
Funk's Grove in November, 1831. He had no particular adven- 
ture on the way, except difficulties with the mud, which delayed 
the family for some time, as they were obliged to make a great 
many bridges. On his arrival he immediately commenced farm- 
ing and shaking with the fever and ague. Sometimes he farmed 
for his mother and sometimes for himself. When he became a 
"chunk of a boy" he ran wolves and deer and turkeys, and 
sometimes was successful in catching them and sometimes they 
won the race. When the sudden change in the weather in De- 
cember, 1836, came, he was chasing turkeys about four miles 
from home, but made good time back, as may be supposed. He 
was obliged to swim Sugar Creek. 

He married, September 5, 1845, Miss Ellen Smith, and by 
this marriage has had four children, of whom three are living. 
His wife died in 1854. He married, February 18, 1857, Mar- 
garet Ross, and by this marriage has had four children, of whom 
three are living. Two of Mr. Hougham's children are married. 
They are : 

James Thomas Hougham, who lives within half a mile of his 
father's house. 

Mrs. America Ann Boler lives within a mile of her father's 
house. 

Mr. Hougham lacks half an inch of being six feet in height, 
when measured in his stocking feet. That was his measurement 



m'lean county. 735 

at Springfield, when he went to see if he would do for a soldier. 
He weighs three or four hundred pounds, he does not know pre- 
cisely which. He is stout and pretty active. 

John Longworth. 

John Longworth was born September 2, 1809, in Marietta, 
Washington County, Ohio. His father's name was Robert Long- 
worth, and his mother's name before her marriage was Nancy 
Reilly. Robert Longworth was of English descent and his wife 
Nancy was of English and Irish. Her father died a soldier in 
the Continental army, when she was only a child. 

When John Longworth was three years of age, his parents 
moved to Muskingum County, Ohio. He was not old enough 
to remember anything of the war of 1812. He only recollects 
hearing of a young woman who was captured by Indians. When 
they were about to kill her, she called on the Great Spirit, by 
the name which the Indians knew it, and this so astonished them 
and so awakened their superstition that they released her. Du- 
ring the war of 1812, Robert Longworth was stationed on the 
river, and it was his duty to hail all boats that passed, especially 
all that came down. He stayed about seven years in Muskin- 
gum County, and there worked very hard, and made money 
enough to enter one hundred and sixty acres of land in Morgan 
County, to which place he moved. 

John Longworth grew to manhood in Ohio, and received 
there the common school education, which the country afforded. 
When he was old enough to be of service, as a workman, he 
went to the Muskingum River and there engaged in the salt 
business, and sent the salt up and down the river in flatboats. 

He married, February 24, 1831, Prudence P. Edwards. 

In March, 1832, the Muskingum River was very high, and 
inundated everything along its banks. Houses and fences were 
floated oft". At one time during this flood, two men found float- 
ing down the Ohio River, a cradle with a baby in it. They had 
considerable strife to decide who should have this little Moses 
from the bullrushes. 

In the spring of 1836 he came to Johnson's Grove, McLean 
County, Illinois. He came by steamboat to Pekin and across by 
team to Johnson's Grove in the present township of Mt. Hope. 



736 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Robert Longworth, the father of John, had come out the year 
before, had bought a hundred and sixty acres of land, which 
Johnson had entered, and the latter's claim on eighty acres of 
timber. When John Longworth came, he made a claim on one 
hundred and sixty acres of land, and settled on eighty acres 
more. 

In December, 1836, a company came on from the east, and 
entered eight thousand acres of land, very nearly in the shape of 
a square ; and as the company had twenty-five shares, this left 
three hundred and twenty acres of land apiece. They also en- 
tered other land and gave the earliest settlers each a premium of 
forty acres. This land comprised the greater part of the town- 
ship of Mt. Hope. This land was surveyed in the summer of 
1837. Mr. Longworth assisted in the survey. They tried to find 
the corners, which had been laid out by the governmental sur- 
vey. These were marked by stakes, holes and pits of charcoal. 
On the up-land, these corners could usually be found, but on the 
low-land they were sometimes wanting. This Mt. Hope com- 
pany entered the land which Mr. Longworth claimed. It was 
the custom among the settlers never to enter a piece of land on 
which one of them had made a settlement, but the company en- 
tered all of its land together, and knew nothing of Mr. Long- 
worth's settlement. But he succeeded in making terms with 
the company, by paying about what it cost to enter and survey 
the land. 

In December, 1836, the sudden change in the weather occur- 
red. Mr. Longworth was then at his father's house, about a 
quarter of a mile distant, and when the windstorm came, he 
went home, and was sheltered by timber on the way, but thought 
he did well to get to his house. His brother had been riding 
that afternoon and was wet by the rain. When the sudden 
change occurred his boots were frozen into his stirrups, and when 
he arrived at his father-in-law's house, the stirrups were knocked 
loose before he could dismount. All of Mr. Longworth's 
chickens were frozen to death, except one tough old rooster. 
Much of his stock was frozen. He saw one cow, which seemed 
to have been frozen as she stood in her tracks. This terrible 
change seemed to frighten all animals, and take away their 
original natures, for they all huddled together, their fear of each 



m'lean county. 737 

other being overcome by their greater fear of the elements 
around them. A man named Houser had just come to the 
country with horses, cattle, sheep, and other stock, and they all 
huddled together in a log stable, and the next morning were 
covered with a white frost, which was the frozen moisture of 
their breath. 

Mr. Longworth has experienced nearly all of the hardships 
to which the early settlers were subjected. He broke prairie 
and raised sod corn for the first crop. The corn was dropped 
just ahead of the plough as the sod was turned over. The 
dropper rode on the plough. The corn was planted in every 
third furrow. 

Mr. Longworth has raised a family of intelligent, happy chil- 
dren, three sons and three daughters. They are full of humor 
and pleasant, practical jokes. They are : 

Mrs. Sarah Ann Farnsworth, wife of E. H. Farnsworth, lives 
three quarters of a mile west of McLean. 

Mrs. Belinda McCormick, wife of Marion McCormick, lives 
two miles and a quarter west of McLean. 

Augustus Longworth lives a mile and a half east of McLean. 

David Newton Longworth (called Newt !) and Albert Long- 
worth, live at home, though both have farms. Newton is con- 
nected with the drug store in McLean, which is carried on by 
Longworth & Palmer. 

Mattie J. Longworth lives at home. Her name is not changed 
yet. 

Mr. Longworth lacks one inch of being six feet in height. 
He is a man of very good humor, appears to be very fair-minded, 
and has the perfect confidence of the community where he re- 
sides. He has been school treasurer, and has assessed the 
township more than all of the other assessors put together. He 
has been elected constable, and re-elected against his will, and at 
last refused to qualify. 



47 



738 OLD SETTLERS OF 

OLD TOWN. 

Lewis Case. 

Lewis Case was born, February 27, 1809, in Ontario County, 
New York. His father's name was Abner Case, and his mother's 
name before her marriage was Olive Rolland. Both were full 
blooded Connecticut Yankees. Abner Case was a soldier in the 
war of 1812. He was a private and served under Generals Scott 
and Harrison. He saw the burning of Buffalo, the blowing up 
of Fort Erie, and was at the battle of Lundy's Lane. During 
the latter fight he was stationed in an orchard. During his ser- 
vice under General Harrison he was slightly wounded, having 
three fingers of his left hand shot off. Mr. Case drew a pension 
until his death, which occurred January 6, 1854. His wife died 
on the day following, and both were buried in the same grave in 
"Wisconsin, near Madison. 

Lewis Case lived in Ontario County until he was sixteen 
years of age. There he received his education, which was that 
of the common school. The scholars in that section of country 
complied with the custom of those days, which was to bar out 
the schoolmaster on Christmas day. At one time they barred 
out the master and the contest lasted three days. They fortified 
themselves in the schoolhouse and stood the siege. The people 
near by gave the scholars plenty to eat, lots of cake and cider 
and fuel to burn in the fireplace. The schoolmaster tried to 
smoke them out by covering the chimney, and for a while it 
seemed that he would succeed ; but the scholars put out the fire 
by pouring on cider, and stopped the smoke. After three days 
the contest ended in breaking up the school. 

In the year 1824, the family moved to Huron County, Ohio. 
They lived in the woods among the large timber wolves, which 
were very plenty. At one time a timber wolf was caught by the 
fore leg in a trap, and the dogs were collected from all over the 
country to fight it, but it whipped them all. 

In July, 1833, Lewis Case came with his wife and child to 
McLean County, Illinois, and settled on Kickapoo Creek, on the 
north side of Old Town timber. When they first came, they 
went to Bloomington, and the first man to welcome them and 



m'lean county. 739 

give them their dinner was General Gridley, who then boarded 
at James Allin's. During the following winter, the families of 
Lew T is Case, Abner Case, Charles Lewis and Thaddeus Case, 
fifteen persons in all, wintered in a little house fourteen feet 
square. Their household goods were put up around the sides of 
the room on pins. They had two bedsteads and two trundle 
beds. A part of the folks were obliged to retire at night before 
the remainder could make their beds on the floor. During" that 
winter Mr. Case cut, split and hauled logs for a house. In the 
spring the house was built, and in April they moved into it. It 
was a small cabin, but Mrs. Case had room in it for a spinning 
wheel and a loom. She spun and wove the clothing for the 
family, and when her girls were large enough they also were 
taught to spin and weave. She made linsey, jeans and linen, 
and the family lived happily in the rude cabin with their home- 
spun attire. For three years they remained in the little cabin 
and then moved to where they now live. 

For thirteen years, the house of Mr. Case was used as a 
preaching place by the Methodists. This was the first denomi- 
nation here. After a while the Cumberland Presbyterians came 
in and joined with the Methodists and built the Union Church. 
But the old church having served its time, the Methodists built 
a new one called the Hopewell Church. The old building was 
sold for eighty dollars in money, which was divided between the 
two denominations that built it. George Gar now uses the old 
church for a barn. The people seemed to enjoy themselves very 
well at the meetings held at private houses. The congregation 
often filled the house, and sometimes the bedding and furniture 
were carried out to make room. 

The early settlers were always anxious to have their children 
educated, and were willing to make all sacrifices. School was 
kept during one summer in Mr. Case's barn. Mrs. Case was 
careful to see that her children attended punctually and regu- 
larly, and says that one of her children missed only two or three 
days in the year. 

Mrs. Case was an industrious woman. She made clothes tor 
people and took her pay in work. She made coats for the men, 
and they in return made hay or ploughed for Mr. Case. She 
made a coat for Senator John Cusey, and he made hay for a 



740 OLD SETTLERS OF 

week to pay for it, and worked well. Mr. Case was also indus- 
trious and made shoes and cobbled for the neighborhood. 

On the 13th of October, 1831, Mr. Case married Sarah Hen- 
dryx, in Huron County, Ohio. He has had five children, oi 
whom four are living. They are : 

Mary Ann, wife of Peter B. Price, lives at Downs Station. 

Olive, wife of J. W. Savage, lives near Downs. 

Sarah Elizabeth, wife of Wesley Savage, lives in Downs 
township, near the eastern boundary. 

Hannah Emeline, wife of Sylvanus Michael, lives in Old 
Town, near the western boundary. 

Mr. Case is five feet and nine or ten inches in height. His 
head is partially bald, and his nose is Roman. He is a worthy 
man and thinks much of his family and friends. He is hospita- 
ble and kind to all. He has succeeded well and has accumulated 
enough property to make him comfortable; but his industrious 
habits cling to him, and he continues to carry on his farm as in 
the days of the early settlement. 

Harvey Bishop. 

Harvey Bishop, eldest son of William Bishop, was born Au- 
gust 2, 1821, in Virginia. In the year 1833 the Bishop family 
came to Illinois. William Bishop wished to obtain land for his 
children, and it cost too much in Ohio. 

Mr. Bishop obtained his education in a log school house du- 
ring the winters, as all the pioneer children did. The school 
teachers in those days were severe ; and Mr. Bishop remembers 
an instance where the courts interfered, and a teacher was fined 
for the severity and brutality of his punishment. He went to 
school for one winter to John Magoun in Old Town and found 
him a most excellent teacher. He never punished his scholars, 
and they all liked him, and he had great success. It was then 
very evident that Mr. Magoun would remain an old bachelor, 
as he did not pay his addresses to the ladies of Old Town. He 
was a very conscientious teacher, and his scholars had confidence 
in him. 

Mr. Bishop was never a hunter, and only killed one deer in 
his life. This was when he was sixteen or seventeen years of 
age. A light snow had fallen on the ground, and he asked his 



m'lean county. 741 

father for his gun to go hunting. The old gentleman allowed 
Harvey Bishop to take the gun, and promised him a dollar for 
every deer he killed. Harvey Bishop succeeded in killing one, 
and received his money. He frequently hunted wolves, and ran 
them down or caught them in traps. Mr. Bishop entered apart 
of the land where he now lives in Old Town, and a part was 
given him by his father. He entered one hundred and seventy 
acres of prairie and forty acres of timber, and he has been very 
successful in its management. 

On the 25th of February, 1850, he married Mrs. Mary Ann 
Depew, a widow, who died November 26, 1856. One child, born 
of this marriage, is now dead. On the first of January, 1861, 
Mr. Bishop married Miss Mary Ann Hart, of Old Town. Their 
only child, William Henry Bishop, lives at home. 

Mr. Bishop is five feet and eight inches in height, is rather 
spare in build, has blue eyes, uses spectacles occasionally, has 
hair light colored and rather thin. He is good-natured and very 
kind in his manner. He has served in various positions in the 
township. He has always been very independent in his political 
affiliations and has usually voted for the best men, regardless of 
party. He does not belong to any church, but is a man of in- 
tegrity and correct principle. Mrs. Bishop takes a great deal 
of pride in her husband, and she is in every respect worthy of 
him. 

Frederick Rives Cowden. 

Frederick R. Cowden was born November 30, 1811, in Allen 
County, Kentucky. His father's name was James Cowden, and 
his mother's name before her marriage was Lucy Rives. He is 
partly of Irish descent. He was raised on a farm and worked in 
a tobacco field, but had no particular adventure. When he be- 
came twenty years of age he went to Warren County, Kentucky. 
There he became acquainted with Mr. John Price, whose sketch 
appears in this volume. They often hunted together, and killed 
a great deal of game. They frequently shot at game, both at 
once, and tramped on each other's toes to know when to pull the 
trigger. If only one shot took effect it was supposed that Price 
had missed ! 



742 OLD SETTLERS OF 

In the fall of 1833 Mr. Cowden came to Greene County, Illi- 
nois, where he lived until 1834, when he came to McLean County. 
He started with Elias "Wall and dames B. Price, but left them at 
Ranellville, Kentucky. After traveling two days, he met two of 
his cousins going to Illinois, and he went in company with them. 
When he arrived in McLean County, he went to work sawing 
lumber with a whip saw. This lumber, sawed by hand, was sold 
to John Rhodes for two dollars per hundred, and is now a part 
of his barn. Mr. Cowden sawed finishing lumber of white wal- 
nut for parties in Bloomington, and also for the first hotel at Mt. 
Pleasant (Farmer City). He hunted occasionally with John 
Price, and killed a great many deer and turkeys. Mr. Cowden 
tells some jokes on John Price, which caused great amusement. 
Price was a good hunter, but for some unexplained reason he, at 
times, could scarcely kill anything. Mr. Cowden says, that Price 
once shot some thirty times in one day at deer without hitting a 
single one. The latter complained of a flaw in the gun, but Mr. 
Cowden killed three deer in one day with it, and said that the 
flaw was now s;one. Mr. Price could kill rame afterwards. Mr. 
Cowden says that Price was very cautious about approaching a 
wounded deer, and once killed a buck, which ran into a clump of 
brush and died ; but as Mr. Price had some suspicion as to 
whether the buck was really dead, he rode around the thicket and 
fired at it seven or eight times ! Mr. Cowden once wounded a 
deer, but would not shoot again, for fear of being laughed at, and 
grappled it. The struggle which followed was so severe that 
Cowden wished he had given the deer another shot. 

He has had great difficulty with the fires on the prairie, which 
came so swiftly and were so hot that the danger from them was 
very great. 

Mr. Cowden has a lively recollection of the sudden change in 
the weather in December, 1836, and says that at the time when 
the ice suddenly formed on tlje Kickapoo, three travelers came 
along and attempted to cross, but one of them lost his horse 
under the ice, as the creek was very high and the water flowed 
rapidly. Mr. Cowden broke the ice during the following day and 
assisted the travelers over. 

Mr. Cowden married, August 17, 1842, Miss Polly G. Price. 
He has seven children, all of whom have grown to years of dis- 
cretion. They are : 



m'lean county. 743 

John James Cowden lives half a mile .south of his father's. 

Mrs. Amanda Jane Dooley, wife of Obadiah G. Dooley, lives 
two miles northeast of her parents. 

William Rives Cowden lives about four miles southeast of his 
father's, in Downs township. 

Mrs. Eliza Ann Downs, wife of John D. Downs, live two miles 
and a half southwest of her father's. 

Matilda Burrell Cowden, Frank Cowden and Elizabeth Gil- 
lem Cowden, live at home with their father. 

Mr. Cowden is about six feet in height, is rather solidly built, 
has blue eyes, and hair and whiskers perfectly white. His head 
is becoming a little bald. In his younger days he was very strong, 
and a good hunter. He is a man of good business qualifications. 
He is rather humorous, and particularly enjoys a good joke on 
his respected father-in-law, John Price. Mr. Cowden was for 
two years supervisor. He has been in poor health for some time, 
and thinks this is due to the exposure and fatigue which he en- 
dured in his younger days. While hunting he seldom stopped 
for any obstacle, but waded or swam creeks and bore every form 
of hardship, and now he thinks he is paying the penalty. 



PADUA. 

William Evans, Jr. 

William Evans, jr., son of William Evans, sen., whose sketch 
appears in this volume, was born June 3, 1815, in Huron County, 
Ohio. In the year 1825, the family started for Illinois, intending 
to make a settlement on the Illinois River. But when they ar- 
rived at Keg Grove (now Blooming Grove) they thought the 
country so hue that they settled there. They made their settle- 
ment about four miles south of Bloomington, where the Oren- 
dorffs had built their cabins. Nothing of unusual importance 
occurred until 1827, when a storm came through Blooming Grove, 
tearing down the timber and scattering the trunks and limbs in 
every direction. Just after this storm Cheney Thomas wished 
to sell a claim to Mr. Evans, sen., where Bloomington now 
stands, for a hundred bushels of corn. But it so happened that 
the corn which Mr. Evans, sen., had planted, was covered up by 



744 OLD SETTLERS OF 

broken limbs of trees, and was thought to be ruined. He there- 
fore hesitated about making the bargain. But William Orendorff, 
who was standing near, said : "Take it, Evans, if you haven't 
enough corn, I have." Mr. Evans made the bargain, and in order 
to help him fulfill it, Mr. Orendorff gave Evans five acres of 
growing corn. The claim now forms a part of Bloomington, and 
is worth a large amount of money. Mr. Evans, jr., says : "Wil- 
liam Orendorff was one of the best men that ever lived on the 
green earth." About nineteen days after the storm, William 
Evans, jr., James Orendorff, and others, found a hog which had 
been pinned to the ground by limbs of trees. They cut it loose 
and drew the exhausted animal home on a sledge. It recovered, 
and showed its gratitude to its deliverers by making a fine 
porker. 

The Evans family were obliged to go for many years to mill 
to Attica, on the Wabash, one hundred and twenty miles distant. 
Afterwards the}'- went to Fox River, eighty miles distant. They 
frequently went to mill at Peoria and Pekin. Orendorff 's mill 
was put up some time afterwards, on Sugar Creek, about twenty- 
five miles distant. They could get a little corn cracked nearer 
home, but not well done. During the winter of the deep snow 
they ground corn in a coffee-mill, and sometimes pounded it. 
Before the snow became packed, they went four miles to Baile} T 
Harbert's mill, breaking the road both going and returning, for 
the drifting snow soon filled up their tracks. 

William Evans, jr., and his brother, took great pleasure in 
catching wolves. During one winter they trapped forty-five of 
these troublesome pests. 

The education of William Evans, jr., was attended to as well 
as possible in the West. He went to school to old Billy Hodge, 
and says that this gentleman was a very good teacher, though a 
little severe with the scholars. 

On the 8th of April, 1836, Mr. Evans married Mary Jane 
Murphy, daughter of Thomas Murphy. He has had ten children, 
of whom seven are living. They are : 

Oliver Perry Evans lives on his father's place. 

William Evans, jr., also lives on his father's place. 

-James Evans lives on the ed<i'e of his father's land. 



m'lean county. 745 

Jane, wife of Ezra Dodson, lives about a quarter of a mile 
east of her father's. 

David and John live at home. 

Morris lives one and a half miles northeast of his father's. 

William Evans stands six feet high in his stockings, has gray 
hair and whiskers, and clear gray eyes, with an honest expression 
in them. His voice is firm and clear, with an honest ring to it. 
He is very accommodating, and left his business, which was some- 
what urgent, for the purpose of giving information for this work- 
He is one of the most reliable of men, and loves humor, of course, 
as the genuine old settlers do. 

Daniel Jackson. 

Daniel Jackson was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, Janu- 
ary 16, 1808. His parents were not in good circumstances, and 
his opportunities for obtaining an education were limited. His 
time was required for work to assist in supporting the family. 
When he was twenty years of age he came to Champaign Coun- 
ty, Ohio. There he worked for two years, for eight dollars per 
month. He came to McLean County, Illinois, in October, 1830. 
He made a claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land in the 
present township of Empire, in the present county of McLean. 
During the winter of the deep snow he lived with John W. 
Dawson. They pounded their corn as the settlers all did, and 
sometimes parched it, by way of a change, until the snow was 
gone and the roads were clear. Mr. Jackson built a cabin on his 
claim, and soon broke ground. With a little help he attended to 
fifty acres of corn. His grinding was done at Baker's horse-mill, 
at Blooming Grove, and at Cunningham's mill, at Cheney's 
Grove. He volunteered, during the Black Hawk war, but was 
sent back to his home, as he was not needed. 

On the 12th of February, 1832, he married Margaret Wal den, 
of Springfield. They worked carefully and well, and succeeded 
in their labor. Mr. Jackson hauled all his grain to Chicago, re- 
turning with groceries and lumber. He dealt a good deal in 
cattle, always keeping a drove on hand. Chicago was his market 
for cattle until the railroads were built, bringing the market to 
his door. He acquired, by his care and industry, five hundred 
acres of land. He did not take much interest in political mat- 



746 OLD SETTLERS OF 

ters, but was, for some years, supervisor of highways. He was 
a good citizen, and was one of those who worked hard for the 
development of the county of McLean. He died March 20, 
1861. 

The items given above, were furnished by his widow, Mrs. 
Jackson, who still lives on the homestead place in Empire town- 
ship. 

Jeremiah Green max. 

Jeremiah Greenman was born August 8, 1794, in Providence, 
Rhode Island. He was of Welch descent. His father, Jeremiah 
Greenman, sr., served in the Revolutionary war for eight years, 
and during that time kept a journal of his life, and his sufferings 
and adventures. The mother of Jeremiah Greenman was Mary 
Eddy, who was born and raised in Providence. When Jeremiah 
Greenman was twelve years of age, the family moved to Wash- 
ington County, Ohio. This course was taken at the earnest 
solicitation of Mrs. Greenman, who did not wish her children 
brought up to a seafaring life, as their father had been. The 
parents of Jeremiah Greenman were not members of an} T church, 
but were remarkable for their integrity and correct principle. 
His father drew a pension for his services in the Revolutionary 
war until the day of his death. The son, Jeremiah, of whom 
this sketch is written, received a fair education. He married 
Letitia McCoy, November 26, 1818. She was born in AVashing- 
ton County, Ohio. 

On the first of June, 1830, the Greenman family started for 
the West. They floated down the Ohio River in a family boat, 
until they came to its mouth. From there they came to Pekin, 
by steamboat, From there they came by ox-team to where 
Waynesville now is. There they spent the winter of the great 
deep snow, but were not subjected to as many privations as many 
others, for they lived near a mill where their corn could be easily 
ground. In the fall of 1831, they came to Old Town timber, to 
John W. Dawson's place, and in the following spring came to the 
place where they now live, in the present township of Padua. He 
entered two hundred and twenty acres of land, engaged in farm- 
ing and stock- raising, and was quite successful. His health was 



m'lean county. 747 

quite delicate. He died October 17, 1843, and was buried at 
Dawson's graveyard, in old Town. 

Mr. Greenman had nine children, of whom eight lived to be 
grown. Thomas McCoy Greenman and Sarah Ada, wife of Wil- 
liam Moran, are dead; Emaline, wife of Alvah B. Dimon, lives 
at Thompsonville, Marion County, Iowa: Henry Clay Greenman 
served in the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers, and was killed at 
the battle of Prairie Grove; George Washington Greenman lives 
in Dixon, Kansas ; Sarah Jane, wife of Solomon Gregg, lives in 
the southern part of Old Town; Jeremiah Greenman, jr., lives 
at the homestead with his mother. He served in the army during 
the rebellion, being fourteen months in the Eighth Illinois and 
twelve months in the One Hundred and Fiftieth Illinois. He 
was at the battles of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh. He 
was wounded at Fort Donelson. Mary L., wife of Mr. Van 
Gundy, is now dead. One child died in infancy. 

Mr. Greenman was about five feet and ten inches in height. 
His son Jerry appears much as his father did, though the latter 
had rather darker hair. Mr. Greenman was a kind husband and 
a good father. He paid great attention to the education of his 
children. He was not a member of any church, but was a man 
of strict integrity, and his word was sufficient without any bond. 
His widow, Mrs. Greenman, still lives on the homestead. She is 
a very kind lady, and thinks much of the " good old times.'' She 
possesses much natural shrewdness. 

John Bishop. 

John Bishop was born February 9, 1799, in Fleming County, 
Kentucky. His father's name was James Bishop, and his mother's 
name, before her marriage, was Chloe Lake. Both were of Eng- 
lish and "Welch descent. In 1804 the Bishop family moved to 
Ohio, to what is now Clark County, but was then Green County, 
and had formerly been included in the county of Champaign. 
During the war of 1812, James Bishop entered the army, and 
had charge of some teams belonging to the wagon train of Hull's 
army. When the war opened, General Hull was governor of 
Michigan. He went to Urbana, Ohio, and took command of the 
army, which was passed over to him by Governor Meigs. John 
Bishop, then a lad of thirteen, was present at the time, and re- 



748 OLD SETTLERS OF 

members General Hull as a gray haired, heavy set man. James 
Bishop served under General Hull, and was at the surrender of 
Detroit. The captured soldiers were carried on shipboard to 
Cleveland, and there paroled and sent home. James Bishop 
afterwards served as quartermaster under General Tupper, in 
General Harrison's command. 

John Bishop lived in Ohio until the fall of 1830, and then 
went to Fancy Creek, Sangamon County, Illinois, where he ar- 
rived October 22. The first winter after his arrival was the one 
of the deep snow. It fell there as deep as in McLean County. 
Mr. Bishop had then a wife, three children, three cows and four 
horses, which all needed care and attention ; nevertheless, he looks 
back to those days as the happiest of his life. During the winter 
of the deep snow the wheat and corn was carried to mill from 
four to eight miles on horseback. Before the snow was packed, 
Mr. Bishop and three others went three miles to mill across a 
neck of prairie. They took two horses to carry the corn, and 
eight horses to break the way. The horses walked in single file, 
and. when the foremost was tired, it was placed in the rear and 
another took the lead. It required all day to go three miles and 
return. After the snow became packed men could walk over it 
anywhere, and even horses were borne on the drifts. 

In March, 1832, Mr. Bishop came to Old Town timber, Mc- 
Lean County. In May of the same year he entered his land at 
the office at Danville, and commenced an improvement on the 
northwest point of Old Town timber. But as he did not learn 
precisely the boundaries, he unfortunately built his house and 
barn on unentered government land, which was next adjoining. 
This land was afterwards entered by another party, and he lost 
the house and barn. He built another house on his own land, 
lived on it fifteen years, and then moved to the south side of the 
timber. 

On the 31st of March, 1825, Mr. Bishop married Sally Viney, 
in Ohio. He has had twelve children, of whom seven are living. 
They are : 

Aquilla Bishop is a farmer, and lives at Farmer City. 

James Bishop is a carriage trimmer in Hay's carriage shop, 
in Bloomington. During the rebellion, he was in the Ninety- 
fourth Illinois Volunteers, under Colonel MclSTulta. 



m'lean county. 749 

Martin Bishop was in the same regiment. He now lives in 
Washington County, Illinois. 

John Bishop, jr., was in the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth 
Illinois. He was discharged from the army because of sickness, 
and died eight days after arriving home. 

Chloe Ann, wife of Henry Jacoby, lives in Farmer City. 

Sarah, wife of George W. Thompson, lives in Washington 
County, Illinois. 

Catherine Bishop lives at Farmer City. 

Mr. Bishop is rather less than the medium height, is . rather 
light in build, has a sanguine complexion, seems a very honest 
man, and perfectly straightforward in his business transactions. 
He now lives at Mrs. Ireland's place, near Stumptown, in Old 
Town timber, in the township of Padua. He seems to lead a 
very contented life after so many storms and changes of fortune. 
Mrs. Bishop died in the fall of 1865. 

Adolphus Dimmick. 

Adolphus Dimmick was born in Tolland County, Connecti- 
cut, January 13, 1791. In the year 1816, he came to Ripley 
County, Indiana. There he set out a nursery, the first in that 
part of the country, and raised a great many apple and peach 
trees. On the 9th of October, 1832, he married Esther Living- 
ston. On the first of November following, he started for Illinois, 
traveling in a wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen and a horse. On 
the 25th of that month he arrived at Old Town timber, made a 
claim and commenced farming. He bought a cow and calf, and 
from this beginning raised a herd of forty or more cattle, besides 
selling a great many. The cabin was one of the little log huts 
of the early days, with a pounded clay fireplace, a stick chimney 
and a floor of linn puncheons. These puncheons were made of 
rails split thin and shaved with a drawing knife. The windows 
were of greased paper, and the table was made of a large pun- 
cheon. The land, where they lived, did not come into market 
until 1836. They had very little company. The wild animals 
came around them and kept them company. The raccoons came 
up under the window at night; the wolves ate the bones thrown 
from the house, and the wild turkeys picked up the crumbs near 
the door. The deer often came around them, and their society 
was principally that of the wild animals. 



750 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Dimmick died on Christmas day, 1845. He had three chil- 
dren, all of whom are now dead. His stature was somewhat less 
than medium. He was stoutly built, had a light complexion, was 
careful and attentive to business and succeeded well. He had a 
common school education, and taught school in Ohio and Illinois. 
He was always hospitable to strangers and willing and ready to 
entertain them. He had always good fortune in life and pros- 
pered well. His lady afterwards married Mr. Stephen Ireland, 
but has been a widow for the last sixteen years. She is a pleas- 
ant old lady, and her house is a stopping place for a number of 
elderly people and seems almost an old folks asylum. 

Josiah Horr. 

Josiah Horr was born October 9, 1807, in Lewis County, New 
•York. His father's name was Jacob Horr, and his mother's 
name, before her marriage, was Hannah Pierce. Jacob Horr 
was descended from the Puritans who landed on Plymouth Rock. 
He was a farmer, and died in Ohio in about the year 1850 or 51. 
His wife Hannah was born in America, but was of English-Irish 
descent. She died in 1839, while on a visit to Cheney's Grove. 
Jacob Horr had eleven children, of whom ten lived to be grown, 
but only three are now alive. They are, William Horr, of 
Mechanicsburg, Champaign County, Ohio ; Elijah Horr, of Car- 
thage, Jefferson County, N. Y., and Josiah Horr, the subject of 
the present sketch. William Horr was the youngest son. 

Josiah Horr received his education in Lewis County, N. Y., 
where he attended a common school during the winter months 
until the age of twenty. In the summer time he worked on his 
father's farm. While only a boy, he resolved to come to the 
West. At the age of twenty-one he moved to Champaign County, 
Ohio, where he remained nearly eight years. He worked on a 
farm and in a woolen factory. In 1836, he came to the West, 
arriving at John W. Dawson's place in Old Town timber on the 
first of October. He had made three previous trips to visit the 
country, enter land and make a few improvements. The family 
passed through Cheney's Grove, visiting a few days with Jona- 
than Cheney, an uncle of Mrs. Horr. They lived two months 
in a house belonging to John Dawson, by which time they made 
a cabin on the place where they now live, in the present town- 



m'lean county. 751 

ship of Padua. The first experience which the Ilorrs had of an 
Illinois winter, was with the sudden change of December, 1836. 
This was indeed a frightful experience and they were much ter- 
rified, but it never came again. 

Mr. Hon* was chosen justice of the peace and held this office 
with some interval for about fifteen years. He married William 
Harrison and Nancy Jane Dawson, and many years afterwards 
he married their daughter to C. H. Hobart. Mr. Horr always 
tried to settle amicably the cases which were brought before him, 
arid often guaranteed the constable's costs in order to do so. He 
has been township trustee and school director, and for ten or 
twelve years he was supervisor. He is a member of the Metho- 
dist Church. Mr. Horr employed Abraham Lincoln to manage 
the first and only case the former ever had in McLean County 
Circuit Court, and Lincoln carried it through successfully. Mr. 
Horr belonged first to the Whig party, and afterwards to the 
Republican. He voted against Jackson, and after the latter 
retired from political life voted against Jackson's friends. 

On the 28th of October, 1830, Josiah Horr married Temper- 
ance Cheney, who was born in Virginia, but left that State while 
she was very young. They have had eight children, four of whom 
were born in Illinois. Six lived to be grown. They are : 

William Horr, mail agent on the L., B. & M. Railroad. 

Elizabeth, wife of David M. Bunn, lives at Williamsburg, 
Franklin County, Kansas. 

Martin Horr, lives about half a mile west of his father. 

Abner Horr, lives near Galesburg, Neosho County, Kansas. 

Sarah Horr, lives at home. 

Martha, wife of James E. Wood, lives in Upper Mackinaw, 
McLean County. 

Mr. Horr is six feet in height in his stocking feet. His hair 
is thick on his head and perfectly white. He has a Roman nose 
and blue eyes. He is very straight and is still very active. His 
appearance is impressive, and he possesses great energy and 
power of endurance. He had a postoffice for some years in his 
house, but it was discontinued a year ago last April. 



752 OLD SETTLERS OF 

RANDOLPH'S GROVE. 

Alfred Moore Stringfield. 

Mr. Stringfield says that his life has three separate sides to 
it — the adventurous side, the religious side, and the political side, 
and he wishes the distinction preserved in writing this sketch. 
The adventurous part of his life he calls his "rough and ready," 
and this part is given first. This sketch then begins with 

The Rough and Ready of A. M. String field. 

Alfred Moore Stringfield was born October 14, 1809, on a 
farm near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This is the village which 
gave the name of the celebrated battle fought there during the 
rebellion. He is of English descent, his ancestors having come 
to America from England at an early day, When he was very 
young his parents moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and from there 
to the Tennessee River, after the war of 1812. There his father 
kept a farm and a ferryboat, and Alfred, being an active lad, 
helped to manage it. His father kept two boats, one was large 
for the purpose of carrying wagons, and one was small for carry- 
ing men and horses. The small ferryboat was once crowded 
with horses and passengers, and some of the latter were careless 
and would not pay attention to Alfred, and the boat upset in ten 
feet of water. All were fortunately saved after their involun- 
tary baptism ; and it is to be hoped that they were made wiser 
for the future. 

In 1819 Mr. Stringfield, sr., moved his family to White 
County, Illinois. In the spring of 1820 he made a visit to San- 
gamon County, and moved his family there in the fall to a farm 
within a few miles of Springfield. There he died shortly after 
his settlement. 

In the spring of 1823 Alfred Stringfield came with his brother, 
Severe Stringfield, and his brother-in-law, Gardner Randolph, to 
what is now called Blooming Grove. But they located at Ran- 
dolph's Grove, and there the brothers Stringfield claimed land 
for their mother. They were the first to break sod at Randolph's 
Grove. They put up what is called a half-faced camp, that is, a 
camp made of poles slanting upwards and covered with clap- 
boards, which had been split or rived out. They were often 



m'lean county. 753 

visited by the Indians and wolves, but never suffered much dam- 
age from either. During the next year their mother, Mrs. 
Stringfield, came to the grove. From that time until 1827 they 
worked during summers and rested winters. 

In the spring of 1827 Mr. Stringfield went to Galena with 
teams to draw mineral. In some places the roads were very bad. 
In crossing the Inlet Swamps, which extended for some miles, 
they were obliged to carry their goods and draw their wagons 
over with ropes. By the time they arrived at Rock River the 
company had increased to seventeen teams and fifty or sixty 
persons. There they saw many Indians, and Mr. Stringfield be- 
ing very fleet of foot was induced to try some of the fleetest 
redskins in a race, He beat them without difficulty, and was the 
hero of an hour with the squaws. They clustered around him 
and talked in their strange dialect and pointed their fingers at 
him, called him captain, and considered him the most wonderful 
of the Long Knives (white men). He was so popular with them 
that he made the bargain for the transportation of the wagons 
across the river for seventy-five cents apiece. When it is con- 
sidered that the wagons were taken across by placing the wheels 
in canoes, this will be seen to have been a very advantageous 
bargain. 

They followed the Indian trail to Galena, and there Mr. 
Stringfield was engaged in teaming, wood-chopping, and what- 
ever his hands could find to do. In April, 1828, he returned on 
horseback, and in May he moved five families to Galena, and 
worked there as before. During the following fall his mother 
died, and he came back to Randolph's Grove. 

In 1829 Mr. Stringfield made two trips to Chicago with 
droves of hogs. During their second trip the weather was mild 
and the rivers were cleared of ice. They forded the Illinois 
River at the rapids, three miles above Ottawa, but on their re- 
turn from Chicago with a load of salt, they found it frozen over 
by a cold snap, and crossed it on the ice just above the mouth 
of Fox River. They took across the unloaded wagon and un- 
yoked oxen separately, and then rolled over the barrels of salt. 
The ice was so thin that it cracked under their weight, and in 
some places the water spurted up. Mr. Stringfield carried the 
next to the last barrel of salt across on his back, as he declared 
48 



754 OLD SETTLERS OF 

he could do, but was very tired, and would have been very glad 
to have laid down his load ; but the ice cracked under him, and 
he saw clearly that if he dropped the barrel the ice would break 
and Mr. Stringfield and his salt would both go under. So he 
plucked up his resolution and carried over the salt. He made 
another trip to Chicago in January, 1830, to move a family 
there. During his trip he camped out, even in the severest 
weather, and slept on his shoes to prevent them from freezing 
too stiff to wear in the morning. 

During the fall before the deep snow, Mr. Stringfield went 
on a trip to Chicago, and lost two yoke of oxen in a prairie fire. 
He hunted for them on horseback, but did not find them during 
that fall. The only result of his exertions was the loss of his 
palmetto hat, which his horse tore to pieces during one night 
when Mr. Stringfield was asleep. He did not find his oxen until 
the March following the deep snow, when he came across them 
near the head of the Iroquois River, where they had been driven 
by the fire. They had lived during the winter on brushwood 
and the stems of trees where some woodmen had been cutting. 
During the winter of the deep snow, Mr. Stringfield did very 
little except attend to his stock. He hunted occasionally and 
caught a few wolves and a great many deer. He caught four 
deer in one day out of a single pack, within a circuit of five 
miles, and killed them without shooting. During this winter, 
Mr. Stringfield, Dr. Wheeler and Jesse Funk, started a deer 
about one and a-half miles southwest of Dr. Stewart's. It ran 
into a deep hollow, where Mr. Stringfield followed it and cut its 
throat with a pocket knife. But it was seen to be a difficult 
matter to get the deer out of the hollow on to the bank. Mr. 
Stringfield settled the matter by taking hold of the deer with 
one hand and twisting the other hand in the horse's tail. The 
horse then went up the side of the hollow, dragging out with its 
tail both the hunter and the game. He caught a few wolves, 
but the crust of snow soon became so hard that they could run 
around on it and, as Mr. Stringfield says, " make fun of you to 
your face." 

The season following the deep snow was a short one, and the 
frost came so early in the fall that the corn crop was ruined. 
During that fall he went with Jesse Funk to Galena with a drove 



m'lean county. 755 

of beef cattle, and returned during the latter part of October 
when it was bitterly cold. The road had then been marked out 
by stakes or poles placed in the ground upright, and as far apart 
as they could be easily seen from one to the other. During the 
.same fall he collected a drove of hogs, and went to Galena with 
Absalom and Robert Funk, and Robert Stubblefield and a hired 
hand. The cold was intense and the snow deep. It fell on them 
at Hennepin and increased until they arrived at Apple River. 
All of the party returned home except Mr. Stringfield, who re- 
mained until February. He was. at that time a very muscular 
man, and could shoulder a sack of wheat holding five bushels 
and five pounds. 

Mr. Stringfield does not claim to have been a great hunter, 
but he was sometimes pretty lively in chasing wolves. He 
caught four wolves by jumping from his horse and running after 
them on foot, for he could beat both the Indians and the wolves 
in foot races. The first wolf was caught in the year 1826. He 
chased the wolf a mile and a-half on horseback, then jumped off 
quickly, let his horse go and took after the wolf on foot. After 
chasing it a hundred yards he made a grab for it, but it turned 
short around and they ran the same hundred yards back, and 
just as the animal was going out of a snow drift Mr. Stringfield 
grabbed it. But it settled its teeth in his arm and he carries the 
scars to-day. He choked the wolf loose, and the brute grabbed 
his thumb. He loosened his thumb, tied the wolf, brought it 
home, and a week afterwards it was killed by dogs at his mother's 
quilting bee. He afterwards caught wolves with his hands, but 
always grabbed them by their hindquarters and quickly threshed 
them on the ground and avoided their teeth. The settlers usually 
killed them by striking them with a stirrup, or a pole. The 
wolves were pretty saucy and came prowling around the house 
at all hours of the night. Mr. Stringfield threw his shoe ham- 
mer through the window at one particularly impudent wolf that 
followed a sheep to the house during a moonlight evening. He 
never hunted deer much although they were very plenty. He 
has seen gangs of seventy or eighty deer going out from the 
timber to the prairie. 

Mr. Stringfield was appointed Captain in the Thirty-ninth 
regiment of State militia by Governor Reynolds in 1832, and of 



756 OLD SETTLERS OF 

course bore his military honors as well as he has ever since borne 
the military title. 

In December, 1834, Mr. Stringfield, Jesse and Absalom and 
Isaac Funk, collected a drove of pigs, and Mr. Stringfield and 
James Funk drove them to Chicago. The snow was six or eight 
inches deep, and in order to make a track in which the pigs could 
travel, they dragged a forked tree ahead of the drove for fifty or 
sixty miles, from Money Creek to the Mazon river beyond Pon- 
tiac, and there they came to a beaten track. 

Mr. Stringfield was always on friendly terms with the Indians. 
They often came to his house, and if they wanted lodging he 
took them in and treated them well. He never considered them 
any more dangerous than white men, and thinks that so far as 
honesty is concerned there is very little choice between them. 
He frequently trusted them and always got his pay. He once 
lent an Indian a meal sack, which was returned after being kept 
two months. He had a high opinion of the honesty of the Kick- 
apoos and Delawares, but thought the Pottawotomies not so 
trusty. 

The early settlers went first to Sangamon County to do their 
milling and blacksmithing, and to Springfield for their trading. 
But after 1830, the course of trade turned to Pekin, Peoria and 
Chicago. Wheat was drawn to Chicago by oxen until the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad was built. The loads of wheat taken there 
were sometimes enormous. Mr. Stringfield has known one hun- 
dred and sixty bushels to be carried there in two loads, and one 
enormous load of a hundred bushels was taken through to Chi- 
cago by oxen, 

RELIGIOUS LIFE. 

Mr. Stringfield's father was an Episcopalian, and his mother 
was a Baptist; but the old gentleman once listened to a Metho- 
dist preacher, and was so pleased with the doctrine and spirit of 
the Methodist Church that he joined it. He became a strong 
and earnest member and brought up his family strictly. Mr. A. 
M. Stringfield followed the example of his father and in his 
eleventh year became associated with the church, and has re- 
mained an active, working member ever since. He has taken a 
great interest in the events connected with the church and re- 



m'lean county. 757 

members them very correctly; so much is this the case that he 
has the reputation of never forgetting anything. The West 
seemed to be the ground most congenial to Methodism. It came 
with an irresistible force and gained a foothold which it has 
never since relinquished. The largest camp-meeting which Mr. 
Stringfield ever attended was held at Iluntsville, Alabama. 
Bishop Paine, Elder Porter and many other great lights of the 
church were there. Thomas Stringfield, the brother of A. M. 
Stringfield, was there and preached to the negroes. The excite- 
ment among the people rose to a wonderful pitch, and the entire 
multitude became so moved by the spirit that it was thrown pros- 
trate as if a hurricane had passed over it. The people jumped 
about and jerked as if they would throw themselves to pieces, 
and Mr. Stringfield thinks that this can only be explained by the 
fact that they were moved by the spirit of the Most High. When 
he came to White County, Illinois, he attended camp-meetings 
which were conducted by the Methodists and Cumberland Pres- 
byterians, and there also he saw great manifestations of feeling, 
but in a less degree than in Alabama. He also saw some indi- 
catious of this feeling in camp-meetings in this part of the coun- 
try, but they were not to be compared to the tremendous mani- 
festations which he witnessed in Alabama and in White County, 
Illinois. 

POLITICAL LIFE. 

Mr. Stringfield, sr., the father of Alfred, was a Revolutionary 
soldier, who participated in some contests which have become 
historic. He was at the battle of King's Mountain, and assisted 
in the capture of Ferguson. In politics the old gentleman called 
himself a Washingtonian Whig and a Jeffersonian Democrat, 
and Mr. Stringfield, jr., learned his politics from the school of 
Jefferson. He formed his opinions after careful thought and 
patient study, and tried to hold himself independent of 'all special 
influences. He believes in a tariff for revenue and not a tariff 
for protection. In the great contest between Adams and Jeffer- 
son, Mr. Stringfield believed in the doctrine of an ad valorem 
tariff, and that a duty should be paid on everything upon which 
a duty was laid according to the market value of the article. So 
far as the doctrine of protection is concerned, he thinks that the 



758 OLD SETTLERS OF 

great purchasing interest of the country demands its abolition. 
He has remained a Democrat ever since he could vote, but in 
forming his opinions, he has not been bound very closely by the 
ties of party. So far as any distinction between men is concerned, 
he is in favor of considering men according to their ability, in- 
telligence and virtue, regardless of race or color. This is his 
doctrine, and always has been. 

Mr. Stringfield, when he grew to manhood, became married, 
of course, as a good American citizen should. In 1832 he mar- 
ried Miss Emily Hand, and his later years has been blessed with 
a fine family of eight children. He has had ten children, but 
only eight are living. These are : 

Rev. Thomas Clark Stringfield, who lives in Jackson, Pulaski 
County, Arkansas, twelve miles from Little Rock. 

Jesse Funk Stringfield lives with his father. 

Mrs. Sarah Lucinda Crose, wife of Alfred F. Crose, lives at 
Moberly, Missouri. 

George Hand Stringfield lives in Hicksville, California. 

John Heber Stringfield lives near his father. 

Miss Barbara U. Stringfield lives at her father's house. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Virginia Crews, wife of A. L. Crews, lives 
about a mile and a quarter from her father's house. 

Miss Mary Ellen Stringfield lives at home. 

Alfred M. Stringfield is a man of fine presence. Although 
advanced in years, he is the picture of health and strength, and 
seems still possessed of youthful activity and courage. His voice 
is clear and distinct, and impresses one with his deeision and 
firmness. He usually takes the name of Squire, as he has several 
times been elected justice of the peace. His powers of conversa- 
tion are remarkable, and command the attention and respect of 
the listener. He is of medium stature, and has fine, regular 
features. He has in him the spirit of the genuine old settlers, 
and thinks that none of the pleasures of cultivated society can be 
compared to the manly sports of the pioneers. He thinks that 
human ingenuity cannot devise a sport equal to that of the early 
settlers, when they put up a pole in some central locality, and 
hunted towards it from all sides, and cornered the wolves and 
deer. He thinks that people who live in a town or city know 
nothing about real life and enjoyment. " The way to obtain 



m'lean county. 759 

healthy exercise is to get up in the morning and catch a deer or 
a wolf — not shoot it, but catch it. That is real natural life, and 
gives a healthy appetite for breakfast," 

Thomas Officer Rutledge. 

Thomas O. Rutledge was born September 17, 1806, near 
Charleston, a little town not far from Augusta, Georgia. His 
father was Robert Rutledge, and his mother's name before her 
marriage was Margaret Officer. In about the year 1811, the Rut- 
ledge family came to Henderson County, Kentucky, where they 
remained until the year 1820. His father and his uncle, "William 
Rutledge, were both soldiers in the war of 1812. Robert Rut- 
ledge died in 1819, and during the following year his brother 
William moved the family to White County, Illinois. Mrs. Rut- 
ledge had then a great responsibility, for she was obliged to care 
for a family of eight children. In the fall of 1823, Thomas O. 
Rutledge made a wagon of wood, without a nail or any piece of 
iron in it, and obtained a yoke of two-year old steers. With this 
team he moved the household goods of the family to Sangamon 
County. There they planted and gathered one crop, and with 
the little steers and wooden wagon came to Randolph's Grove, in 
what is now McLean County. Here he cultivated two crops of 
corn with the steers, using them singly for ploughing it. Mr. 
Rutledge celebrated the first day of January, 1829, by his mar- 
riage to Cynthia Rutledge. He obtained his license from Macki- 
nawtown. Everybody in the grove attended the wedding ; even 
a lot of Indians came to see how the white men managed these 
interesting matters. Mrs. Rutledge has been his good wife ever 
since. She can make the best bread of any woman in McLean . 
County. 

Thomas O. Rutledge was a hard worker, and this was the 
reason of his success. In 1830 he went to Waynesville, and 
made rails for Timothy Hoblitt, and his wages for one week's 
work were three chairs, which he carried home on horseback. 
The next week he made rails for the same man, and his wages 
for that and a part of the week following were a spinning-wheel, 
which he also carried home on his horse. He worked occasion- 
ally for Jesse Funk for fifty cents per day, from 1827 to 1832, and 



760 OLD SETTLERS OF 

earned about five hundred dollars. The wooden wagon, which 
he made in White County, did him good service in his work, and 
lasted for fifteen years. 

During the winter of the deep snow, Mr. Rutledge had great 
difficulty in getting wood, and trees were cut by persons who 
stood on a crust of snow four feet from the ground. When the 
snow melted away, the stumps appeared six feet high. During 
that winter the starving deer came up to the stacks of the settlers 
and were mixed with the cattle. They frequently came up to the 
house, driven almost crazy with hunger. At one time Mrs. 
Rutledge picked up a maul and knocked a deer in the head, and 
killed it right before her door, and she could easily have killed 
others, but she said they appeared so pitiful that she had not the 
heart to do it. The deer could be caught anywhere, and they 
were often found frozen to death while standing. The wild tur- 
keys, too, suffered severely, and some of them came into Mr. 
Rutledge's yard, and ate with his chickens. 

In 1832 the Black Hawk war broke out, and Mr. Rutledge 
enlisted in the company commanded first by Merritt Covel. They 
went first to Pekin, where they were organized, and then marched 
to Fort Clark, (Peoria,) where they drew two days rations, and 
marched to Dixon. There they were mustered into the regular 
service, and spent five or six days in training. Then they drew 
five days rations, and were sent out as a scouting party under the 
command of Major Stillman, (afterwards General,) who com- 
manded a battalion of about two hundred and fifty men. They 
started up* Rock River to find the Indians, and probably not one 
in the party thought of the possibility of a fight. They wished 
. to find the Indians, and in this they certainly succeeded. During 
the second day in the afternoon they came to a halt, and knocked 
in the head of the barrel of whisky which they had brought with 
them, and all filled their canteens with the precious fluid. Then 
they moved forward, from three to five miles, and crossed Old 
Man's Creek. Since the fight which occurred that day, the creek 
has usually been called Stillman's Run. It was about thirty-five 
miles from Dixon, and at the point where the volunteers crossed 
it, was a bend, concave towards the north. In that bend they 
stacked their baggage and expected to go into camp. The guards 
had been posted, and the men had, most of them, unsaddled their 



m'lean county. 761 

horses, when orders came to tall into line. The guards in front 
had caught sight of some Indians who were on the look out, and 
gave them chase. They killed one, captured two or three, and chased 
the remainder into Black Hawk's camp on the Kishwaukee River, 
(called by some Sycamore Creek,) about five miles from Stillman's 
Run. When the guards returned, the men fell into line, but even 
then they hardly expected a fight. They moved forward to the 
top of a hill on the prairie, where they halted and raised a white 
flag. Immediately an Indian appeared about three-quarters of a 
distant bearing an enormous red flag. Then the wdiites advanced 
a short distance and faced to the right, which made them four 
men deep, and dismounted to see that their guns were in good 
condition. Here a parley occurred between the Indians and whites, 
each party sending out a man to hold a consultation, and in the 
meanwhile the Indians took down their red flag. But the parley 
soon ceased and Mr. Rutledge never knew what took place or 
what was said between the two parties who talked the matter over. 
But when it ended the volunteers were told to be ready for fight. 
They then awaited the attack and before long the Indians began 
to fire and yell at them- directly in front. It seems that while the 
whites had been halting and holding a parley and losing time the 
Indians had been preparing for an attack, and this was the cause 
of the willingness of the savages to talk and display their red 
flag and attract their attention. When the Indians began firing 
and whooping in front, the first line of volunteers fired and 
wheeled to reload. Then the Indians appeared on each side almost 
in the rear on their ponies and came down on the volunteers, 
whooping and firing their guns. Major Stillman ordered the vol- 
unteers to mount and retreat, and as soon as they were mounted 
he ordered them to break the line of the Indians on the left. 
"Then," said Mr. Rutledge, "right there was a confusion." The 
two Indian prisoners began to whoop in answer to those making 
the attack, and the guards shot them down. The volunteers paid 
no attention to the order to break the line of the Indians on the 
left, but went, as Mr. Rutledge says, "right square for home/' 
Joe Draper, a private, was shot, and Mr. Rutledge saw him fall. 
It was there, too, Mr. Rutledge says, that William McCullough 
caught the gun of an Indian who was pointing it at him and 
dropped his own. The whites rushed on to Stillman's Run with 



762 OLD SETTLERS OF 

the Indians after them, but as the former were better mounted 
they distanced their pursuers. The creek was crossed in confu- 
sion ; some jumped their horses while some were obliged to dis- 
mount and climb the bank. Mr. Rutledge was not obliged to 
dismount as his horse jumped the creek in fine style. A few of 
the Indians followed the volunteers across the creek, but the most 
of them stopped to plunder the baggage which had been piled up 
convenient for them. The whites ran every man for himself to 
Dixon's Ferry. They lost but few men in the affair. Joe Draper 
was shot in the retreat, but in the dusk of the evening he crawled 
away and lived some days afterward, and when his body was 
found he had marked his adventures and wanderings on his can- 
teen. Andrew Dickey was shot at the creek through the thigh, 
but crawled under the bank and escaped. Mr. Hackelton, who 
was also wounded, crawled under the bank. Captain Adams had 
his horse shot from under him before the retreat commenced, but 
he ran back, crossed the creek, and went three-quarters of a mile 
from it towards Dixon's Ferry when he was overtaken by Indians 
and killed ; but he sold his life for something, and killed one or 
two of the Indians who followed him. Major Perkins was over- 
taken and killed about a mile and a half from the creek ; he was 
probably delayed in crossing it. Seven or eight of the Indians 
were killed and buried; this Mr. Rutledge knows positively. It 
was in the twilight of the evening when the fight at Stillman's 
Run took place. That night the volunteers made quick time for 
Dixon's Ferry, thirty-five miles distant, but became badly scat- 
tered. When Mr. Rutledge was within eight or ten miles of 
Dixon he found himself with a little squad of five men. They 
halted until daylight ; then calculated their course and came into 
Dixon's Ferry at about ten o'clock. There they found something 
to eat and by eleven o'clock (Mr. Rutledge thinks,) started back 
to the battle-field with the remainder of the army and the rein- 
forcements, w T hieh had been coming in while they were gone. 
They buried the dead. While on the field of Stillman's Run they 
received the news of the massacre of three families on Indian 
Creek ; those of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew, he thinks, and the 
capture of the two t young ladies, Sylvia and Rachel Hall. They 
went to Indian Creek and buried those who were massacred, and 
tried to follow the trail of the Indians in order to recapture the 



m'lean county. 763 

young ladies. They found where the Indians had tied their hor- 
ses in the woods and where they had retreated to the creek, but 
there the trail was lost. The Indians had walked down the creek 
for a long distance and their track was lost. The evening after 
they buried the families at Indian Creek they marched to Ottawa 
and built a block-house ; then went to Chicago and built another 
which required a week; then went to Milwaukee where they 
stayed three days and then marched back to Ottawa and were 
discharged. Mr. Rutledge re-enlisted for sixty days, but remained 
at Ottawa until his time was nearly expired. When the Black 
Hawk war was nearly closed the company to which he belonged 
marched up to Prairie Du Chien on the Mississippi River. They 
arrived there shortly after the battle of Bad Axe, the closing tight. 
From there his company returned to Ottawa where they remained 
until their discharge. In his discharge Mr. Rutledge was directed 
to visit the Kickapoos at Old Town timber to see that they kept 
their arms stacked and manifested no hostile disposition. He 
found them as quiet and peaceable as if they had never heard of 
wars or rumors of wars. 

Such was Mr. Rutledge's experience in the Black Hawk war. 
Xo very accurate account of the famous tight at Stillman's Run 
has ever been published, because unfortunately, the most of the 
gentlemen who were engaged in it had taken too much spirits 
from the barrel which was broken open in the afternoon of the 
last day of the expedition. 

When Mr. Rutledge was discharged from the service he re- 
turned to his plow. He had all the adventures of a pioneer and 
all the sharp experiences which w^ere common to the early set- 
tlers. His experience with the sudden change in the w T eather in 
December, 1836, was the same which has been so often described 
Mrs. Rutledge says, her chickens and geese were frozen to the 
ground by the sudden cold. 

Mr. Rutledge has never been much of a hunter. He has some- 
times shot deer and turkey and often hunted wolves. He has often- 
times pulled oft' the harness from his horse while ploughing and 
ridden after wolves, when they troubled him too much. This was 
a common occurrence. The prairie fires sometimes, came after 
them and then it seemed that the whole earth was on fire. He 
thinks the great conflagration at Chicago is nothing compared to 



764 OLD SETTLERS OF 

a prairie fire, which blackens everything in its track. It moves 
slowly at first, but gathers speed as it goes so that it soon moves 
faster than a horse can travel. 

Mr. Rutledge is a very humorous gentleman and appreciates 
a rich joke as well as any of the old settlers. He tells many hu- 
morous things of the Buckles family, particularly. At one time 
while on the way to Pekin, with a load of wood, he saw Mr. Wil- 
liam Buckles at Gaylord's tavern in Bloomington. The landlord 
was exceedingly polite and wished to do everything to please his 
guests. As Mr. Buckles was about to retire for the night .the 
landlord offered him a pair of slippers to wear to his chamber ; 
but he could not understand the meaning of such a favor. At 
last an idea seemed to strike him, and he told the landlord that 
"he'd be dog goned if he'd trade his boots for them slippers." 

When William Buckles was young he followed the example 
of other young men, and occasionally " went sparking." Atone 
time, while he was making a visit to a young lady, the family 
treated him with great politeness, and at dinner offered him some 
white sugar for his coffee. But he had never seen white sugar 
before, and replied very promptly, " No, sir, he didn't take salt 
in his coffee." 

Mr. Peter Buckles, a brother -to William, was a great hunter, 
and sometimes he could not resist the temptation to go after game 
on the Sabbath day. But after a while, when a revival was in 
progress, he made a profession of religion, and promised never 
again to hunt on Sunday, unless, he cautiously added, a wolf 
should take some of his pigs, or his sheep, or his chickens, or 
some of his other stock. With these exceptions, he promised the 
brethren and sisters faithfully never again to hunt on Sunday. 

Mr. Abraham Buckles, another member of this celebrated 
family, now lives at Buckles' Grove. In early da} r s he had never 
seen a railroad and never expected to ; but in course of time a 
railroad came working its way through to Bloomington, and 
although Mr. Buckles lived out at the grove, which bears his 
family name, he at last came across it, and his experience was 
most interesting. Shortly afterwards he was taking a young 
lady some distance in his billow; but when he came within two 
miles of the railroad he told her she would have to walk the 
remainder of the journey, as he would not, under any circum- 



m'lean county. 7<!5 

stances, go nearer than two miles of the track, for he said he had 
been, but a* short time before, on the track with his horse and 
buggy, and the engine came after him like a threshing machine 
and whooping like an Indian, and his old mare went faster and 
faster, and when she left the track, she nearly upset the buggv. 

Mr. Rutledge has paid very little attention to politics, and 
never held any office except school director and overseer of the 
poor. Since coming to Randolph's Grove, he has always lived 
where he first settled, on the land pre-empted, about two miles 
east of the present town of Heyworth. He has had twelve chil- 
dren, nine of whom are living. They are : 

John T. Rutledge, who is now living in Kansas, 

Owen C. Rutledge, who lives in Heyworth, where he is in 
business in a warehouse. 

Mrs. Amanda Elder, wife of William Elder, lives in Hey- 
worth. 

Mrs. Mary Washburn, wife of John Washburn, lives in Hey- 
worth. 

Andrew S. Rutledge lives near his father. 

James B. Rutledge lives on a farm about one mile east of his 
father. 

Mrs. Pamelia Loer, wife of B. F. Loer, lives in Normal. 

Charles L. Rutledge and Oliver Rutledge, both live at home 
with their father., 

Mr. Rutledge is about five feet and ten inches in height ; his 
hair is gray, what there is of it, and his head is bald. His eyes 
are bright and pleasant, and the lines on his face^seem laid out 
for the purpose of making an honest, pleasant smile. The dim- 
ples still come in his cheeks, and he is full of the best of humor, 
and, like all of the old settlers, wishes to be a good friend to all 
of his neighbors, and indeed to the whole world. He is in very 
good health, and seems inclined to work more than he should in 
the later years of his life. He is always glad to see his children 
and his friends. 

Robert H. Rutledge. 

Robert H. Rutledge was born March 21, 1810, in Henderson 
County, Kentucky, near the Red Banks. His father, Thomas 
Rutledge, was born October 17, 1768, in South Carolina. He 



766 OLD SETTLERS OF 

lived for a while in Georgia, and there married Sallie Smith. He 
also lived near Nashville, Tennessee, and moved from there to 
Henderson County, Kentucky, where his son Robert was born. 
The Rutledge family came to Illinois in December, 1814. They 
came to Shawneetown, and afterwards moved out in the country 
about thirty-five miles. The county was then called Gallatin. 
Thomas Rutledge was there chosen justice of the peace in 1813, 
and held his office for ten years. In 1826 the family came to 
Randolph Grove. On the twentieth of August, 1830, old Thomas 
Rutledge died, in the sixty-second year of his age. His wife, 
Sallie Rutledge, was born August 20, 1778, and died December 
12, 1843. 

Robert Rutledge says that when he came to Randolph Grove 
in 1826, the country was an uninhabited wilderness from Pekin 
to the eastern state line, and from La Salle to Decatur. The coun- 
ty was then called Tazewell, with the seat of justice at Mackinaw- 
town. William H. Hodge was then sheriff. Since that time 
Macon County has been taken off on the south, and Champaign, 
Vermilion, and our own county of McLean, have been taken 
from the east. 

Mr. Rutledge, like many other settlers, has had a hard milling 
experience. The family first did without a mill, and Mr. Rut- 
ledge, sr., made a hominy mortar and a pestle attached to a spring 
pole, by means of which the hominy was beaten. But when the 
little " nigger head" horse-mills came in use, young Robert was 
obliged to take his sack of corn, go to mill on horseback one day 
and return with meal the next. 

Mr. Rutledge was a lively hunter, and he had plenty of oppor- 
tunities for exercising his skill, for deer were as " plenty as black- 
berries." In 1826 he saw from the door of his cabin more than 
a hundred deer walking one after the other. At one time, during 
the fall of this year, Mr. Rutledge, sr., killed three deer in the 
morning before breakfast. 

The wolves were then very numerous. Mr. Rutledge, at one 
time during the fall of 1826, was traveling in an ox-cart a short 
distance west of where Hey worth now is, and there saw within 
forty yards of him twenty-eight large gray wolves and one prairie 
wolf. He often went on the " ring" hunts, as they were called, 
and was in the great hunt described by John Price, which appears 



m'lean county. 767 

in the latter's sketch. Mr. hiutledge also says that the great 
wolf, which was for a long time the terror of the whole 
neighborhood for a great many miles around, once got into 
his traps and lost its toes in getting out. This was the wolf 
which was afterwards killed by John Price. Mr. Rntledge's 
last wolf hunt was in the month of June in about the 
year 1838. He started out one rainy morning with John 
Weedrnan. They went not more than a mile and a-half 
before starting three large black wolves. Weedrnan shot one 
through the shoulder, and Rutledge, while riding at full speed, 
shot another. 

McLean County was organized in 1830. The first couple 
married in the county after its organization were Robert H. Rut- 
ledge and Charity Weedrnan. They were married June 9, 1831, 
by Father T. Brittain, who lived at the head of Old Town. The 
first license granted in McLean County after its formation was 
given to them by Isaac Baker, the first county clerk. Charity 
Weedrnan was born July 21, 1812, in Perry County, Ohio. Her 
father came to McLean County in 1830. He was an active man 
of considerable influence, and was for some time a county com- 
missioner. He was a great hunter, was wide awake, arose early 
in the morning and at one time killed two deer before breakfast 
in order to have a good appetite. His daughter Charity was a 
lively young woman ; she was up and doing and at one time 
walked four miles to weave in order to earn some chickens to 
get a start and raise a flock. Robert and Charity built their first 
cabin in the fall of 1831, on the ground where they now live. 
Their little cabin had neither floor nor door until the following 
spring. Their bedstead was made by boring holes in the side of 
the house and driving in poles for rails and using clapboards for 
bedchords. Robert Rutledge and his brother-in-law, Jacob Bish- 
op, thought they must have the luxury of tables, so they cut a 
log and each of them split out a table from it. The first prairie 
which Mr. Rutledge broke was in the spring of 1832. He then 
worked under some difficulties. Mrs. Rutledge had one child, 
which she would lay on the bed and go out and drive the oxen, 
while Mr. Rutledge held the plow. 

Mr. Rutledge made his first journey to Chicago with Garson 
Wright and Jacob Bishop, and it required four or five weeks to 



768 OLD SETTLERS OF 

make the round trip. While they were gone, their unprotected 
families were obliged to be on their guard against Indians and 
wild animals. The three men went with ox teams to where Pon- 
tiac now stands, thence to Sulphur Springs and the Kankakee 
River, where they forded, thence to Hickory Creek, north of 
Joliet, and from there to Chicago. They were loaded with corn 
and oats, and sold the corn for $1.50 per bushel and the oats for 
$1.00. They found in Chicago only one family of white folks, 
that of "William Clybourne. They did their trading with two 
Frenchmen by the name ofBeaubean. They loaded their teams 
with salt and started on their return to their anxious families. 
After going twelve miles they came to the river Desplaines and 
were there water bound three days. At last their fifteen teams 
were taken over by half-breed Indians for $1.50 a piece. They 
were water-bound two days at the Dupage River, and amused 
themselves during their enforced idleness by going to hear a 
Methodist preacher, who was exhorting to the Indians. They 
crossed the Dupage in canoes and the Desplaines in the same 
way. From there they went to Sugar Grove on Fox River, and 
thence to Ottawa, where they crossed the Illinois. From there 
they went to Panther Creek, thence to Crow Creek, then on to 
Havens' Grove across the Mackinaw, thence to where Blooming- 
ton now is, and on home to Randolph's Grove. 

When Mr. Rutledge came to Randolph's Grove, there were 
Gardner Randolph, Captain Stringfield and his mother's family, 
James Burleson and family, Jesse Funk, Mr. Dickerson and W. 
Games. Isaac Funk, Robert Stubblefield and William Brock 
lived at Funk's Grove. John Hendrix, William and Thomas 
OrendorfT, William Walker, Ebenezer Rhodes, John Rhodes 
and John Benson, lived at Blooming Grove. 

The changes which have taken place are of every kind and 
description. The face of the country is changed by the fields 
and houses and roads, by the timber which has been cut down„ 
and by the timber which has grown up. Mr. Rutledge has cut 
timber, grown since his settlement here, that squared eight 
inches. 

Mr. Rutledge has had few misfortunes, but one has been 
something of a difficulty for him. Mr. Rutledge's house burned 
down on the sixteenth of October, 1872, but it is now replaced 



m'lean county. 769 

by a new and substantial building wbich will be his homestead 
for the remainder of his life. But notwithstanding this misfor- 
tune, Mr. Rutledge has usually been very successful. He has 
acquired a competence of this world's goods ; he has been blessed 
with good health, a splendid wife and a magnificent crop of 
children. He has had twelve children, seven of whom are living. 

Mary J. Rutledge was born March 7, 1832, was married to 
John Halsey in 1849, and lives in Iowa. 

Sarah L. Rutledge was born March 13, 1833, was married to 
Joseph T. Martin in 1852, and lives in Ford County, Illinois. 

George T. Rutledge was born August 26, 1834, married in 
1860, Miss A. M. Wagner, and lives in McLean County, Illinois. 

Harriet Rutledge was born June 13, 1836, died April 18, 1862. 

Nancy E. Rutledge was born September 11, 1839, was mar- 
ried to J. C. Daniel, and lives in Ford County, Illinois. 

Benjamin F. Rutledge was born May 19, 1842, and died the 
seventeenth of the following October. 

Leander Rutledge was born December 5, 1843, married in 
1844, Mary A. Tilghman, and lives in McLean County, Illinois. 

Charity A. Rutledge was born July 21, 1846, was married to 
John T. Ellsworth, and died November 30, 1870. 

Robert M. Rutledge was born August 7, 1848, and died 
September 6, following. 

America C. Rutledge was born March 17, 1850, and died 
November 9, 1870. 

Martin A. Rutledge was born October 27, 1853, and died 
September 16, 1854. 

Marcus D. Rutledge was born February 20, 1856, and lives 
at home with his parents. 

Mr. Rutledge is of medium stature. He is as good and honest 
a man as ever lived. He appreciates a funny story, but would 
rather not have too many practical jokes played on himself. 

Jesse Funk. 

Jesse Funk was born December 15, 1803, in Clark County, 
Kentucky. His father was Adam Funk and his mother's maiden 
name was Nancy Moore. Nancy Moore was the daughter of Mr. 
Philip Moore, who came from Germany. Adam Funk, the father 
of Jesse, was the son of Adam Funk, who, while only six years 
49 



770 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of age, was brought by his father Adam Funk, from German}-. 
The child Adam was left by his father in Philadelphia in charge 
of a friend, while the father went to seek a place of business, but 
never returned and was never again heard of. The child Adam 
grew to manhood and married Miss Sarah Long, and their chil- 
dren were Adam, Margaret and Jacob. Adam married Miss Nan- 
cy Moore, as above stated. Their children were Absalom, John, 
Jacob, Sarah, Isaac, Dorothy, Tabitha, Jesse and Robert. 

In 1808 the Funk family moved to Fayette County, Ohio. 
Jesse Funk remembered the war of 1812, although but a very 
small lad. Two of his elder brothers were soldiers in that war 
and served under General Cass. At the close of the war Gene- 
ral Cass came home with them and made a visit of several days. 

Jesse Funk's business while a boy was the herding of pigs on 
the White Oak Plains, where they were taken to feed on mast. 
This occupation and hunting kept him busy. Pie hunted bees, 
bear, wolves and panther. In addition to his gun he carried, on 
his hunting excursions, a butcher knife and a three-pound axe 
for a tomahawk. His hunting companions were frequently the 
Indians, with whom he was on terms of friendship. He often had 
shooting matches with them. Mr. Wesley Funk tells of a bear 
fio-ht, in which his father and Isaac Funk and a Mr. Pancake were 
engaged in Ohio, and which he has often heard his father relate. 
The} T started out one morning on horseback with the hounds and 
went to a little stream called Deer Creek. Before going a great 
wa}' they started an enormous bear. Isaac and Mr. Pancake being- 
somewhat excited, gave it a hard chase and drove it to its nest. 
This was made of grass piled on the ground five feet high, and 
underneath was the bear with her cubs. Isaac, who was then a 
reckless youth, rode his horse over the nest, bear, cubs and all. 
This brought out the beast and a general fight took place. It 
was tackled by nineteen hounds, but the bear came off first best 
and nearly killed three of the hounds, before they could be called 
off. The animal was then furious ; the hunters tried to drive 
it towards their shanty before shooting it. But Isaac became 
impatient and wanted more sport and again he charged on the 
bear and and rode his horse over it. But the brute was a little 
too quick this time ; it caught the horse in the edge of the hair 
on its left fore foot and tore the ancle and hoof on the front side. 



m'lean county. 771 

The horse fell, and Isaac was thrown. The horse ran for home 
while the hear took after Isaac and would undoubtedly have 
killed him, had not Jesse rushed on with the dogs and drawn oft' 
the attention of the brute, until the reckless Isaac could escape. 
The bear climbed a low tree and Jesse tried to shoot it, but the 
flint in his gun wovdd not make fire. The powder was lit with 
a splinter, and when the gun fired the bear came down, and Isaac 
picked up Jesse's tomahawk and went for the brute again and 
struck it. But the bear reared up for another fight and again 
Jesse rushed on with the dogs to save Isaac from the results of 
his recklessness. Jesse rushed his horse on the bear's heels and 
when it turned on him he rammed the gun barrel down its throat 
and stabbed it with his knife behind the left shoulder. Between 
Jesse and the dogs they succeeded in killing it. 

But Jesse Funk was not always successful in securing his bear 
meat, when he had killed it. At one time he killed a bear's cub 
and started for home, but was delayed, and the wolves came howl- 
ing after him. They came thicker and thicker and closer and 
closer, and at last he was obliged to drop his bear, and while the 
wolves were eating it he and his dog went home, 

During the last year before he came to Illinois he worked for a 
Mr. Rankin and received as his pay one hundred and twenty dol- 
lars in American half dollars. 

On the fifteenth of December, 1824, Jesse Funk came to Ran- 
dolph's ^ Grove in what was then Fayette, but is now McLean 
County Illinois. During the first year after his arrival in Illinois 
he lived with his brother Isaac at Funk's Grove. On the fifteenth 
of September, 1825, he married Miss Fannie IT. Stringfield. 

Rev. John S. Barger, while writing of Jesse Funk's marriage, 
says: " The writer remembers to have heard him say in regard 
to the marriage fee, that he asked the preacher his charge for his 
services, who replied : 'I am not in the habit of making charges 
on such occasions, but usually accept what the parties are dis- 
posed to give.' He said: ' I was much relieved by his answer, 
and ran my hand into my pocket and gave him $2.50. If he had 
made a charge and had charged me more than that small sum I 
could not then have paid the fee !' " On the 11th of March, 1826, 
the newly married couple moved into their log cabin, twelve by 
fourteen feet, with only one side of the roof covered, a blanket for a 



772 OLD SETTLERS OF 

shutter to the door, having no chimney and no floor but the earth. 
Into this humble dwelling they introduced an ox-cart load of 
household furniture, and a light load at that. He sold his wed- 
ding hat for some pigs and split rails for some of his neighbors 
for twenty-five cents per hundred. Mr Thomas 0. Rutledge, in 
describing the shanty says, that Mr. Funk had a little salt meat 
in one corner and slept in the other, he had a little board table, a 
dirt floor, a hole in the logs for a window, a quilt for a door, no 
chimney, the roof only half on, no chair and only two puncheon 
stools. One would hardly think that this pioneer, who began life 
under such difficulties, would at his death leave an estate worth 
half a million dollars or more. 

In 1827, Jesse Funk and his wife went to Galena. They 
moved to the Illinois River in an ox- wagon. There they took a 
keel-boat and went down to its mouth and up the Mississippi. 
They poled it up by having a plank walk on each side, where 
those who handled the poles, could walk backward and forward. 
Mrs. Funk steered the boat, When they came to the rapids, they 
unloaded the boat and carried the household goods around while 
the empty boat was poled and drawn up with ropes. When tliey 
arrived at Galena, Mr. Funk commenced digging for mineral the 
fore part of the season ; then he bought a team and hauled mine- 
ral during the latter part of the season ; then he went home and 
drove hogs to Galena, butchered them, and sold meat to the 
miners. These were the first hogs taken to Galena. In the 
spring of 1828 he returned to Galena, but in the fall he came 
home again, and took a second lot of hogs to Galena, butchered 
them, and returned in Februaiy, 1829. In the fall of 1829 he 
took some oxen to Galena, butchered them, sold them to the 
teamsters, and returned shortly afterwards. He always camped 
out in the woods. When he and his men ran out of meat, they 
killed a hog and scalded it by a curious process. They dug a 
hole in the ground, put in some stones, built a log fire in it, and 
after a while scraped away the ashes, poured in water, which was 
immediately heated by the stones, and instantly plunged in the 
hog, which never failed to become effectually scalded. 

During the winter of the deep snow, Jesse Funk started to 
Galena with a drove of hogs. The men who accompanied him 
were James Burleson, Severe Stringfield, Robert Funk and Mar- 



m'lean county. 778 

tin Ruth. The last named was severely frozen on the expedition 
and wished to be left to die ; but .(esse Funk took his whip and 
threshed the man severely, and made him run, and by this means 
saved his life. On this trip the men were overtaken by the deep 
snow, and for a while their swine were buried beneath it. When 
they took out the pigs, the latter were found by the holes, which 
their breath melted up through the snow. Some of the pigs had 
been killed by the wolves. While driving the pigs, Jesse Funk 
followed behind and brought up those which were tired and dis- 
abled. The wolves followed close after him. The cold was most 
intense, and many of the pigs were frozen. They would put their 
snouts in the snow and squeal, and freeze, and die. The snow- 
drifts were very deep, particularly in the hollows. They were 
sometimes so deep that only the tops of trees could be seen. At 
last the party arrived at Galena with a remnant of starved and 
frozen swine. Provisions of all kinds were scarce at Galena, or 
Mr. Funk could not have disposed of his poor, sorry-looking pigs. 
He only made one hundred and thirty dollars by that trip. 

In the meantime, Mrs. Funk was at home at Randolph's 
Grove pounding her corn into meal, and managing as best she 
could. The deer and wolves came into her yard very often. Mr. 
Thomas Rutledge assisted her in attending to the stock, cut and 
hauled her wood. During this winter the deer and wild turkeys 
ate with the cattle and chickens. 

Mr. Funk was a tireless man and could endure everything. 
He used many novel expedients to succeed, and seldom failed to 
take advantage of any fortunate circumstance. At one time he 
killed a wild hog at Buckles' Grove, tied it to the tail of his horse 
and dragged it twelve miles home. On his various excursions to 
Galena, Chicago and elsewhere, with droves of stock, he camped 
out at night and made tire with flint and steel and tow. He often 
ran much risk from robbers and lawless men, who are always 
plenty in a new country, but he was a man of powerful frame, 
and was not exposed to so much danger as many others would be. 
At one time he was followed by a robber from Chicago to the 
Mazon River, but there the thief lost the camp of Mr. Funk, and 
was foiled in his design. Mr. Funk had then several thousand 
dollars on his person. He made a great deal of money at times 
in his business, and occasionally he had corresponding losses. 



774 OLD SETTLERS OF 

During the hard times of 1837, he was brought to the verge of 
bankruptcy ; but he saved himself in a fortunate transaction. He 
sold a lot of pork at Pekin, and took his pay in depreciated bills 
of the State Bank of Illinois, and received more money accord- 
ing to its depreciation. With this he paid the debts, which Isaac 
Funk and others owed to the bank, and he afterwards received 
his own pay in good money, dollar for dollar. 

Mr. Funk was a man of great humor, and had a habit of 
giving nicknames. Once, while driving swine to Ohio, he had a 
man named Troxell to help him. Troxell could not read or 
write ; nevertheless, he was anxious to be called by some title to 
indicate that he was not a common hog drover. Jesse Funk, 
therefore, called him Squire. While on the route, Mr. Funk had 
occasion to buy some pigs, and had difficulty as to the amount 
of money they were all worth, after an agreement had been made 
as to the price of each pig. The amount in controversy was 
seven dollars. At last the party selling the pigs offered to leave 
it to Squire Troxell, and have him look over the figures to see if 
the}^ were correct. Mr. Funk would not at first agree to this, as 
he did not wish to expose Troxell's ignorance, but at last he con- 
sented, being anxious to see how Troxell would get out of the 
scrape. The latter took the paper of figures and looked at it 
upside down for a long while. His eye meandered around every 
crook and turn of those characters, of which he was as ignorant 
as a new-born babe. At last he said he had discovered the mis- 
take, and that the difference amounted to three dollars and a half, 
instead of seven dollars, and this settled it. " Didn't I get out of 
that pretty well ?" said Troxell. "Yes," said Funk, "but you 
don't want to figure me out of three dollars and a half again I" 

Jesse Funk was a pretty good-sized man, well formed, had 
dark eyes and black hair. He was a kind and generous man, 
and his humor was of the best quality. But he was a terrible 
man when enraged ; his passion was like a thunder cloud. He 
was a member of the Methodist Church ; but he always thought 
it religious to take his own part by physical force, if necessary. 
Senator Cusey says Mr. Funk would pray like a congressman, 
(do congressmen usually pray?) but, if neceesary, he would fight 
like a pugilist. At one time, while Mr. Funk was engaged in 
devotional exercises at a camp-meeting, some one pricked him 



m'lean county. 775 

with a pin. He bore the torture patiently until the exercises 
were ended, and then lie proceeded to " clean out" the parties, 
who were causing the trouble. Mr. Funk died February 6, 1865. 

Mr. Funk had eight children, of whom seven lived to be 
grown. They are : 

Mrs. Sarah Jane Brittenham, widow of John Brittenham, 
lives in Monticello. 

Mrs. Nancy Ann Thompson, wife of John Thompson, lives in 
California. 

John Wesley Funk lives at the old homestead near Heyworth. 

Thomas Coke Funk lives in Normal. 

Mrs. Delilah Brown, wife of James Brown, lives close to the 
old homestead, near Heyworth. 

Mrs. Eliza Barger died in Iowa, in 1872. 

Absalom Clark Funk lives at the north end of Randolph's 
Grove. . 

George Callahan Hand. 

The following items concerning the life of Mr. Hand, were 
given by his daughter, Mrs. A. M. Stringfield, of Randolph's 
Grove: Mr. Hand Was born in 1790. Mrs. Stringfield cannot 
tell the place of his birth or give any information concerning his 
early life. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and for his ser- 
vices a land warrant was given to his family after his death. In 
the spring of 1819, he left Ohio where he was living, and came 
with his family to Shawneetown, Illinois. The journey was hard 
and adventurous. The family started on a flatboat, but it ran 
against a sawyer and sank, and the Hand family saved only their 
lives and the clothing which they happened to wear at the time 
of the accident. A small steamboat took them from the wreck 
and landed them on shore. They found shelter in a little cabin 
near a grog-shop, where they came in contact with the worst ele- 
ment of western society. The men in the grog-shop made the 
night terrible with their drunken revels. At one time they be- 
came so noisy that the proprietor turned them out, and shortly 
afterwards a storm came up and blew off the roof of the grog- 
ery. The party took refuge in Mr. Hand's cabin, and during the 
whole night kept up their drunken revelry. After waiting three 
or four days, Mr. Hand's family were taken in a boat to Shaw- 



776 OLD SETTLERS OF 

neetown. They went out into the country about eighteen miles, 
and there Mr. Hand supported his family all summer with his 
labor and his gun. He built a little round log cabin which, as 
Mrs. Stringfield says, had cracks in it large enough to sling a 
cat through. He stayed there four years and then went to San- 
gamon County. Here he raised two crops. Mr. Hand hauled 
his hay from the Sangamon bottom. He had ten girls in 
his family, and they sometimes helped him in his work. In 1825 
he came to Randolph's Grove, and there built a cabin and broke 
prairie. No young man could be found tor help, so Amelia drove 
the oxen to break the prairie. When the land came into market 
he entered his farm. The country was then very wild, as may be 
imagined, and the wolves came around the house and made so 
much noise, that, as Mrs. Stringfield says, " you could not hear 
it thunder." Mr. Hand opened his house for a preaching place 
until school-houses were built. Their cabin was also the preach- 
ers' stopping place. Mr. Hand died in 1845, in the fifty-fifth year 
of his age. He had a family of ten girls and four boys, and all, 
except one girl, grew to be men and women. Six of the girls 
and two of the boys are yet living. Mr. Hand was rather a tall 
man, fair-haired, fair-complexioned, with very expressive blue 
eyes, and with heavy shoulders. He was a bold, energetic look- 
ing man, and was strong and active. He was an exhorter in the 
Methodist Church, and brought up his children in the way they 
should go. 

Nathan Low. 

Nathan Low was born on a farm called Ringold's Manor, in 
Greenbrier County, Maryland, near Williamsport, January 6, 
1791. His father's name was Nathan Low, and his mother's 
Nancy Wright, before her marriage. Nathan Low, jr., at the 
age of fourteen, came to Licking Town, Licking County, Ohio. 
Here he finished his education, which was very limited, as his 
chances for learning were not good. He followed the river for 
some time between the Kanawha Salt Works and Zanesville, 
Ohio. He married, February 12, 1814, Miss Sarah Brooks, a 
lady of fine sense and decision of character. She is still living, 
although Nathan Low has long since passed over the river. 

From 1814 to 1829, Mr. Low was a farmer and drover. He 



m'lean county. 777 

drove cattle over the mountains to Harrisburg, Pa., and worked 
hard to carry on the farm. In 1829, he came with his family to 
Blooming Grove, starting in June and arriving in July. He 
brought a carriage with him, but this was too novel for the West, 
and was sold and taken back to Tennessee. It was the first in 
McLean County. The Indians were then plenty, and called on 
the Low family very often, but never disturbed them in any way. 
Mrs. Low, who observes matters pretty sharply, says that some 
of the Indians in these parts ran away from their tribe and joined 
the forces of Black Hawk during the great war, which the latter 
carried on. One of them came all painted to Mr. Low's cabin 
and took dinner with the family and piously asked a blessing at 
the table; but notwithstanding all his apparent piety, Mrs. Low 
was convinced that he was bound for Black Hawk's band, and 
that his paint was put on for war, though Mr. Low thought it 
was only the Indian's mode of dressing. He had a horse and a 
gun, which went through the Black Hawk war. The horse was 
ridden by Isaac Murphy. Mr. Low followed farming and stock 
raising until 1844, the time of his death. He had some property 
in 1829, when he came to the grove, but most of it he afterwards 
acquired by hard and patient toil. At the age of thirty-five, he 
was much broken down in consequence of hard work. During 
the winter of the deep snow he had thirty hogs to feed, and was 
obliged to pack corn for them on horseback for a distance of 
three miles. He made the trip through the timber every other 
day. During this severe winter it was impossible for farmers to 
go to mill, and they pounded their corn and wheat in blocks and 
sometimes ground it in a coifee mill. 

Nathan Low's home would not now be called luxurious. It 
was a shanty with a single room twelve by fourteen feet, and this 
was the home of a family of ten persons ! When the children 
came home from school, they were obliged to put the chairs and 
tables out of doors in order to make beds on the floor. A second 
bed was made under the large one. But these little difficulties 
amounted to nothing, when compared to the vexations they 
sometimes endured. For instance, on one occasion during this 
same winter, there came a storm, which carried off the roof of 
the little shanty and lifted it over the horses, which were tied to 
a wagon near by. Then they tried to fix the roof and the snow 



778 OLD SETTLERS OF 

blew over them and melted like rain. We tell this incident 
without any further comment; it is as hard a condition as we 
have heard of for some time. 

The early settlers visited each other oftener than people do 
at present, particularly from a distance. They had no neighbor- 
hood quarrels or neighborhood jealousies. People were alwaj^s 
glad to see each other, and all stood on the same footing. But 
after a while the country became prosperous and thickly settled, 
and the old warmth of feeling gradually died out. The pros- 
perity of later days has destroyed, in some measure, the good 
feeling of the early times. But the kind feeling of the early 
settlers has had a good effect, which still remains The hospital- 
ity of the pioneers who are now living is of the same generous 
kind as that for which they were first distinguished, and its 
effects are felt by the whole community. We are inclined to 
think that people are now naturally as well disposed towards 
each other as in early days ; the difficulty is that if they exercise 
charity and hospitality and keep the " latch string always out," 
some disagreeable and shiftless folks will take advantage of good 
nature. During the early settlement of the country, this latter 
class of people was very small. Everybody was welcome every- 
where, and all people who lived within twenty miles of each 
other were neighbors. 

The early settlers made their own furniture. They had ovens 
of clay in which they baked their bread. Across the fire place 
was stretched a chain, and sometimes two or three, on which the 
pots and kettles were hung. 

During the sudden change in the weather in December, 1836, 
so often described in this volume, Mr. Low was at Bloomington, 
in the office of the County Clerk. The cape of his coat was wet, 
and when he stepped out of doors the wind flared it out and im- 
mediately it was frozen in that shape. 

Mr. Low brought the first sheep to Blooming'Grove and sold 
them to farmers. His business as long as he lived was working 
with stock. He drove and sold cattle to the laborers on the 
Illinois and Michigan canal, and was shrewd enough always to 
see where he could find a market. He took rather a discourag. 
ing view of the western country and thought that, notwithstand- 
ing its fine land, it would never have the advantages of so good 



m'lean county. 779 

market as in Ohio. If he had lived to hear the engine's whistle, 
he would have changed his mind. 

Nathan Low was one of the best of the old settlers. He 
worked hard, and in the decline of Hie saw the fruits of his labor 
in the prosperity which surrounded him. At the time of his 
death, which occurred April 17, 1844, he was possessed of nine 
hundred acres of laud. He had seven children, of whom five 
are now living. They are : 

John Low, who lives in Washington Territory. 

Mrs. Catherine Coffey, who lives in Davis County, Missouri. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Karr, who lives at Blooming Grove. 

Mrs. Eliza Scoggin, who is now dead. 

Mrs. Eliza Ann Vanordstrand, who lives in Heyworth. 

Nathan Low, jr., who lives in Heyworth. 

Shrewd observers give usually a great deabof the credit of a 
man's success to his wife, and this seems to have been the case 
with Nathan Low. Mrs. Low now lives at Heyworth, and leads 
a very pleasant, independent life. She complains that her 
memory has failed, but the information she has given of the old 
settlers has been very accurate. She has raised a family of re- 
markably intelligent children, in whom she has a right to take a 
motherly pride. 

Nathan Low was a heavily set and rather fleshy man, of 
medium height, with blue eyes and not very heavy, dark hair. 
He weighed perhaps one hundred and eighty pounds. His eyes 
were sharp and expressive, and in his later years were shaded 
by spectacles. He was rather stoop shouldered, on account of 
an injury received by the falling of a tree in 1832. He worked 
hard for his family, was always anxious for their comfort, and 
happy while in their presence. At his death, he was buried at 
Blooming Grove, in Scoggin's cemetery. 

THE PASSWATERS FAMILY. 

PURNEL PASSWATERS, Sr. 

Purnel Passwaters was born in 1782, in Sussex County, Dela- 
ware. His father, Richard Passwaters, was an Englishman, and 
his mother was of Dutch descent. He was a man of limited edu- 



780 OLD SETTLERS OF 

cation and a farmer. In about the year 1806, lie married Com- 
fort Short, a lady who was partly of Welch descent. In 1811 he 
moved to Monongehela County, Virginia. During the war of 
1812 he enlisted as a soldier, hut never was called into the field. 
In about the year 1814, Mr. Passwaters went back to the State of 
Delaware on business, traveling on horseback. While crossing 
the Allegheny Mountains, he was once traveling in the night, and 
was followed by a panther for seven miles. The animal often 
came close to him and seemed inclined to spring, but Mr. Pass- 
waters would jump from his horse and throw stones at it. It 
followed him until he came near a tavern, and then it disappeared 
in the woods. 

In 1816, Mr. Passwaters emigrated to Hamilton County, Ohio, 
where he followed farming. In the fall of 1829, he started with 
his family from Hamilton County, Ohio, for Illinois. When he 
reached Hamilton County, Indiana, the cold weather set in, and 
he was obliged to stop. In the following spring he came to what 
was then Tazewell, but is now McLean, Count} T , Elinois. He 
came, during a part of his journey, in company with Lieutenant 
Governor Moore. When he arrived here he rented a small piece 
of land, and lived in a little cabin on the place now occupied by 
his son, Enoch Passwaters. He commenced farming, and steadily 
followed it until the day of his death, which occurred in February, 
1852. He and his wife w T ere both consistent members of the 
Methodist Church. Mrs. Passwaters died in 1844. 

Mr. Passwaters had twelve children, of whom five are now 
living. 

Mrs. Levina Burdsell, wife of Jefferson Burdsell, lives in 
Randolph's Grove. 

Richard Passwaters lives in Randolph's Grove. 

Purnel Passwaters, jr., lives with his brother Enoch at the old 
homestead. 

Enoch J. Passwaters lives at the old homestead at Randolph's 
Grove. 

Clement Passwaters lives in Randolph's Grove. 

Richard Passwaters. 

Richard Passwaters was born jSTovember 3, 1812, in Monon- 
gehela County, Virginia. In 1816 he came with his father's 



m'lean county. 781 

family to Hamilton County, Ohio. They moved in a flatboal 
from Wheeling, Virginia, to the landing at North Bend, in sighl 
of General Harrison's house. There young Richard was put to 
work as soon as he became possessed of muscle sufficient tp make 
his work of any value. He worked during summers and went 
to school winters. He started for Illinois with his father's family 
in the fall of 1829, but did not arrive at his destination until the 
spring of 1830. He worked for his father on a farm until his 
marriage, which important event occurred February 4, 1836. His 
bride was Miss Sina Misner, a step-daughter of Governor Moore. 
They were married by Cheney Thomas, a justice of the peace. 
Mr. Passwaters then began farming on the place where he now 
lives, at Randolph's Grove. When the Black Hawk war broke 
out, Mr. Passwaters volunteered as a soldier, but on his march 
to the Rock River country was taken sick near where Lexington 
now is, and was unable to continue his march. He returned 
home, but afterwards volunteered as a ranger for sixty days to 
guard the frontier. During the fall after the war he made a 
visit to Ohio with his companions, Elias Gibbs and Garrett Mis- 
ner, but had no particular adventure. Mr. Passwaters has been 
much of a hunter. He once had a run of fifteen miles after a 
gray wolf, which had been eating Jesse Funk's pigs, and he killed 
it with a stirrup. The wolf died game and showed fight to the 
last. 

Mr. Passwaters had a severe experience during the sudden 
change of December, 1836. He was returning home on horse- 
back from his father's house ; he had come to the spring branch 
which empties into the Kickapoo, and there, as his horse refused 
to take the water, he was obliged to wade up to his waist; but in 
doing so his horse broke loose, and Mr. Passwaters was obliged to 
proceed home on foot, a distance of a mile. When he had gone 
a short distance from the creek the sudden change came on, the 
cold wind from the west struck him, and before he had proceeded 
a hundred }^ards farther, his clothes were frozen on him stiff. He 
succeded in reaching home, but was sick for a long time after- 
wards. 

Mr. Passwaters has followed farming all of his life. He has 
often hauled wheat to Chicago, and has had all of the adventures 



782 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of the pioneers. He has raised a family and supported it well by 
his labor and foresight. He has had twelve children, of which 
five have lived to be grown. 

William Passwaters was in the Ninety-fourth Regiment of 
Illinois Volunteers, and died at Vieksburg. 

Mrs. Amanda Ryburn, wife of Edward Ryburn, lives near 
her father's house at Randolph's Grove. 

Lee Passwaters now lives with Edward Ryburn. 

Albert Passwaters lives at home with his father. 

Mr. Passwaters is about five feet and eight inches in height, 
is not heavily built, is a very pleasant gentleman, is very kind- 
hearted, and must have many friends. He has lately been afflicted 
with a stroke of paralysis in the left leg, but remains as cheerful as 
ever. His wife is a lady of fine sense, and their pioneer life has 
doubtless been a happy one. 

Purnel Passwaters, Jr. 

Purnel Passwaters, jr., was born September 12, 1815, in 
Monongehela County, Virginia. "When he was only one year 
old his father moved to Hamilton County, Ohio. In the fall of 
1829 the Passwaters family started for Illinois, but on account of 
cold weather they wintered over in Indiana. There young Purnel 
killed his first deer. The Passwaters family reached Randolph's 
Grove on the sixteenth of May, 1830. In 1833, Purnel began to 
hunt. " right smart." His first excursion was to the Mazon River 
and to the sandridges between that and the Kankakee. Three 
hunters went with him, but they'found little game, as other hunt- 
ers had recently preceded them. Mr. Passwaters shot at a 
badger and broke its fore leg. The animal ran into its hole and 
was caught, but two men could not pull it out, although they 
pulled until it seemed that the animal must be torn asunder. 
They were obliged to kill it or it never could have been taken 
out. 

In 1856, Mr. Passwaters went to Kansas, but had no particu- 
lar adventure. He saw a great many Indians, and did some 
trading with them. One Indian was pointed out to him as the 
son of the celebrated Black Hawk ; but if this was the case, old 
Black Hawk neglected to train up his son in the way he should 
go, for the young man was drunk. 



m'lean county. 783 

Mr. Passwatera is about five feet and eight or nine inches 
high, has a careful, considerate, honest expression on his counte- 
nance, has nearly always been successful in hunting, has killed 
great numbers of deer and turkeys, is a very kind-hearted man 
and much respected. 

Enoch Jones Passwaters. 

Enoch Jones Passwaters was born September 15, 1822, in 
Hamilton County, Ohio. He came with his father's family to 
Illinois in 1830, as stated in his father's sketch. He has not led 
a very adventurous life, has hunted deer and wolves as nearly all 
of the old settlers did. He used to keep greyhounds and fast 
horses to chase the game. He has often caught two deer out of a 
gang during a single chase. Only once did he know a deer to 
show fight, but he killed it with a stirrup while the dogs held it. 
He remembers an exciting wolf chase when he rode an unshod 
horse on slippery ground, and came up with the w T olf after chasing- 
it for seven miles. After his horse had made many turns, and 
the wolf had made many dodges, Mr. Passwaters crippled it by 
running over it, and the dogs came up and finished it. 

Mr. Passw r aters married, May 19, 1842, Almeda Savage, who 
died February 12, 1865. He married, September 7, 1871, Mrs. 
Ann Eliza Atchison. He has been very happy in his domestic 
life. He is about five feet and six or seven inches in height, 
has a bright expressive e^ve, is a pleasant, companionable man, 
and is industrious and hard working. 

Enoch J. Passwaters has had nine children, and Mrs. Pass- 
waters had two children by her first marriage. The children 
are : 

Martha Jane, wife of Tubal Iseminger, lives in Sedgwick 
County, Kansas. 

Ann Maria, wife of Hiram Miller, lives in Randolph's Grove. 

Rhoda Comfort, wife of Aaron S. Yanvaley, lives in Sedgwick 
County, Kansas. 

Irvin Purnel, Lucy Alice, Sarah Elizabeth, Mary Lovina, 
Enoch Halleck and George William Passwaters, live at home. 
Sarah Gertrude Atchison and Charles ISTewton Atchison, the 
children of Mrs. Passwaters by her first marriage, also live in the 
same household. 



784 old settlers of 

Clement Passwaters. 

Clement Passwaters is the youngest living son of the Pass- 
waters, sr. He was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, March 17, 
1825. He is of medium height, and has rather a dark complexion, 
and is one of the most honored members of the Passwaters 
family. He was married, June 1, 1848, to Miss Rebecca Yocum, 
daughter of Jacob Yocum, of Sangamon County, Illinois. He 
has had a family of seven children, of whom six are living. They' 
are: 

Emily Jane, wife of Samuel Miller, lives in Downs township. 

Stephen H. Passwaters lives just east of his father's. 

William F., Enoch I)., James C, and John L. Passwaters, 
live at home. 

Jacob Bishop. 

Jacob Bishop was born June 25, 1797, in Maryland. His 
father, John Bishop, was of English descent, and his mother, 
whose maiden name was Hannah Cooper, was of German. When 
Jacob was only four years of age, he came with his parents to 
Fayette County, Pennsylvania. In about the year 1812 or 13, 
the Bishop family came tc Perry County, Ohio, near the line 
between that and Licking County. Their journey was not re- 
markably adventurous. While crossing the Ohio, the waves 
rolled so high that their boat came near capsizing. The family 
was passed on its way by armies going westward to fight the 
British and Indians. Every regiment was accompanied by 
women, who were resolved to follow their husbands even to the 
battlefield. Mr. Bishop's elder brother was drafted into the 
army. When the Bishop family arrived in Ohio, they took a 
seven years lease of land in the woods. Jacob Bishop worked 
hard until he was twenty-one years of age aad then hired out to 
John Strawn, for whom he worked one year for one hundred 
dollars. Then he farmed Mr. Strawn's place for one year. 
Jacob Bishop married Mary Ann Weedman, and commenced 
keeping house in 1820. He started for Illinois, August 15, 1830, 
and came to Blooming Grove, where he arrived on the 15th of 
September. He had then very little property, and his father-in- 
law, George Weedman, had only a few hundred dollars with 



m'lean county. 785 

which to bring the settlers here. Deer, turkey and bee trees 
were then plenty ; he found the richest bee trees and largest 
quantities of honey in Old Town. He worked hard and had good 
weather until the great fall of snow between Christinas and New 
Years. During the latter part of the winter, people could go 
through the woods anywhere and find the carcasses of deer 
which had died because of the severe weather. The first heavy 
fall of snow came waist deep, and shortly afterwards a crust 
formed on it, which prevented cattle from traveling, for it was 
not hard enough to bear them up. The settlers broke roads 
from one house to another, but the wind filled up the tracks with 
snow; the roads were broken again and again until they gradu- 
ally became packed and rose higher than the snow on either side. 
Mr. Bishop's family had enough breadstuff's to last until the 
tenth of February. On that day, Mr. Bishop started with four 
others to Scott's mill on Kickapoo creek, about fourteen miles 
distant. They traveled from one house to another, where tracks 
had been broken and packed. At one place they walked over 
bars six feet high. They traveled with horses and took with 
them an additional packhorse. If they stepped from the 
track, they went down into the deep snow. They succeeded 
in getting their meal ground, and returned the following day. 
Just before the snow fell, Mr. Bishop and his father went 
to the edge of Old Town to get some pork and a 
cow. They brought home the pork, but the cow remained until 
late in February. "When they went for it, they counted the car- 
casses of nine deer that had perished in the snow. Some were 
lying untouched and some had been partly eaten by wolves. 
The pigs had a hard time of it ; they were accustomed to run 
wild and live on mast, but the snow prevented them from finding 
acorns. Jesse Funk's pigs ate the bark from the elm trees, as 
high as they could reach. The wolves were the only animated 
creatures which really seemed to enjoy themselves. They could 
run around on the crust of snow and could kill all the deer they 
wished, and were not afraid of anything, for they seemed to 
know that nothing could catch them. 

Mr. Bishop had at first nothing with which to support his 
wife and six children. He borrowed $100, and entered eighty 
acres of timber land and went to work. But notwithstanding 
50 



786 OLD SETTLERS OF 

these difficulties, he lived a happy life. In the evening he sat 
and made shoes, while his wife worked her spinning wheel, and 
all the money they could earn by their united efforts was used 
to enter land. It was then very easy to raise stock. Cattle were 
fattened by turning them loose and allowing them to eat grass. 

Mr. Bishop has been something of a hunter. He often chased 
wolves. At one time he dug out a den and found five little wolf 
puppies. The old ones were looking on in the distance, but did 
not dare to come up. He has hunted deer, but had no danger- 
ous adventure; he never had a buck turn on him for fight. Mr. 
Bishop was always cautious about hunting deer, after an adven- 
ture which happened to Asa Weedman. * Mr. Weedman was a 
great hunter, and on one of his expeditions he creased a buck, 
that is, shot it on the top of its neck and stunned it. He quickly 
ran up to cut its throat, but his knife was dull, and soon the deer 
arose and the hunter dropped his knife to hold it. The struggle 
was a very long one. Mr. "Weedman held to the horns of the 
buck and could do nothing else. At last his strength failed him, 
and he concluded to quit if the deer was willing; so he let go of 
the buck and lay down and "played 'possum." The deer pawed 
him and looked at him suspiciously, then ran off a short distance 
and looked back, then went a little farther and looked back 
again, and finally went away entirely. Mr. Weedman lacerated 
his hands badly in trying to hold the buck, and his clothes were 
almost torn off of him. 

Just before the Black Hawk war, Mr. Bishop, Robert Rut- 
ledge and William G. Wright, went to Chicago, and were inter- 
rupted by the extraordinarily high water. They crossed the 
Calumet swamps by putting eight yoke of oxen on each wagon 
and drawing it through. On their return they crossed the Des- 
plaines River by unloading and taking their wagons across in 
pieces in canoes, which they had lashed together. They took 
across their salt, a small part at a time. They crossed the Dupage 
River with the assistance of only one canoe. At the Illinois 
River, they were fortunate enough to find a boat large enough 
to bring their wagons over, but they swam their oxen. 

Mr. Bishop has been very happy in his domestic life, and has 
raised a large family of remarkably intelligent children. They 
are : 



m'lean county. 787 

Mrs. Sarah Ann Hand, of Farmer City, a widow, who was 
the wife of Philip Hand. She lives with her family. 

George Bishop, lives in Randolph's Grove, about two miles 
from his father's. 

Mrs. Hannah Cusey, lives in Downs township with her hus- 
band, Senator John Cusey. 

Mrs. Charity Adams, wife of Wyatt Adams, lives in Downs 
township, about four miles north of Mr. Bishop's. 

Jacob C. Bishop, lives about four miles east of his father's, 
in Downs township. 

Mrs. Charlotte Stringfield, lives with her father at the home- 
stead. Her husband, A. J. Stringfield, died of sickness con- 
tracted while in the army. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, wife of Abram Fry, lives about six miles 
from her father's in Randolph township. 

William F. Bishop, lives about two and a-half miles from his 
father's in Downs township. 

Mrs. Emma Fulton, wife of James Fulton, lives a mile and 
a-half east in Downs township. 

Mrs. Harriet Louisa Wilson, wife of George Wilson, lives 
about three miles east in Dowms township. 

John S. Bishop, lives in Randolph township, about six miles 
from his father's. 

Asbury Mills Bishop, lives at home. He lost his arm in a 
threshing machine. 

Joseph Allen Bishop, lives near his father's. 

Mr. Jacob Bishop was, before he became bent with age, five 
feet and six inches in height. He is one of the most tender 
hearted of men, is exceedingly kind to his family, has worked 
hard for them and is anxious to see them prosper. He has the 
most fine and delicate feelings, is exceedingly hospitable, and 
feels grieved to think people are not as hearty and kind as the 
old settlers were. He has worked hard himself and always 
taught his children to be busy. He would like very much to see 
the old camp-meetings revived, and thinks they are much plea- 
santer than churches. All except two of his children are mem- 
bers of churches. His wife, Mrs. Mary Ann Bishop, died in 
January, 1873. She was a most excellent lady, and in all of the 
hardships of pioneer life she bore her part bravely. 



788 old settlers of 

Matthew Covardale. 

Matthew Covardale was born August 13, 1807, in Maryland. 
His father's name was Matthew Covardale, and his mother's 
name before her marriage was Nancy Fisher. Matthew Covar- 
dale, sr., was of Irish descent. The mother of young Matthew 
died when he was quite small. His father, Matthew Covardale, 
sr., was a seafaring man and had very little time to look after 
his son. The latter had no regular place of abode, but was 
shifted around from one person to another. When he was nine 
years of age an event happened which changed the whole course 
of his life. While Matthew Covardale, sr., was bringing the 
vessel, of which he was captain, into Delaware Bay, it was foun- 
dered, and he became ruined in fortune. He was utterly broken 
up by this shipwreck. He took little Matthew by the hand, and 
they started on foot for the West. They traveled over the moun- 
tains to Wheeling, thence to Columbus, Ohio, then out towards 
Lake Erie, then to Licking River, then down to Zanesville, then 
across the Muskingum, and then to Chillicothe. There they 
went on a keelboat down the Scioto River ; but while they were 
in a sparse settlement the keelboat sunk. This was at night. 
They remained on the shore until morning, then picked up their 
knapsacks and went to Maysville on foot, there crossed the Ohio 
River and went to Lexington, Kentucky, on foot, and from there 
to the north bend in the Ohio River, below Cincinnati. From 
there they went to Jackson County, Indiana, and then back to 
Hamilton County, Ohio. Here they made a stopping place. 
Matthew Covardale, sr., died here, when his son was only six- 
teen years of age. The latter worked by the day, by the week, 
by the month and by the year. He worked every way possible 
in order to make an honest livelihood. In the fall of 1830 he 
came to Randolph's Grove, McLean County, Illinois. Here he 
worked for Jesse Funk until no more work could be done during 
that season. 

During that winter Jesse Funk took a drove of hogs to Ga- 
lena, and had many adventures, for it was the winter of the 
famous deep snow. The cold was intense, and Mr. Funk was 
obliged to wear a false face to protect his nose and cheeks and 
prevent them from freezing. The snow and frost gathered on 



m'lean county. 789 

this false face as he breathed through the aperture, and it ap- 
peared most frightful. When he had occasion to stop at a cabin 
on the way, the moment the door was opened the children 
would scream, and sometimes the women also would be fright- 
ened. 

But Mr. Covardale did not accompany Mr. Funk on this trip. 
The latter stayed during the winter with a man named Richard 
Gross, and usually kept pretty close to the house. At one time 
he saw some prairie chickens some distance, across a slough, 
and he picked up a gun and started to shoot them. While cross- 
ing the slough, where the snow was very deep, he broke 
through the crust and went down. He threw his gun on 
the crust and tried to work himself loose. But the more 
he worked the deeper he went down, down, deeper and deeper, 
and the snow closed over his head, and in spite of all exertion 
he continued going down. But he continued struggling until 
he packed the snow underneath him and obtained a firm foot- 
hold. Then, by packing the snow below him, he rose high 
enough to crawl out on the crust. He returned to the house, 
and the people there asked whether he was going to shoot those 
chickens. Mr. Covardale remarked that his ambition for hunt- 
ing was satisfied for one day. The cold during that winter was 
severe, and at one time Mr. Covardale had his eyelashes frozen 
fast, and the tears were frozen on his cheek. During that win- 
ter Mr. Gross hunted deer and Mr. Covardale pounded corn. 
The corn was sifted through a sieve made of finely dressed deer- 
skin stretched over a hoop of white oak, and fastened with a 
whang. The holes through the buckskin were made with a 
burning iron. In order to keep warm during that winter Mr. 
Covardale and Mr. Gross cut wood and kept the fire burning. 
Their chimney, built of sticks and clay, sometimes caught fire, 
and they kept water ready to throw up the chimney. 

During the next season Mr. Covardale worked for Jesse Funk 
and for other parties. He worked hard and succeeded well. 
After working for a few seasons as a renter, Mr. Covar- 
dale obtained some land of his own, broke prairie, split 
rails and made fences. He succeeded in all of his un- 
dertakings. He raised stock, which he sold for prices 
which would now be considered next to nothing. He made 



790 OLD SETTLERS OF 

the customary trips to Chicago, Pekin, Peoria, and other 
places, camping out at night and sleeping under the wagon, 
which he made his dwelling. 

Mr. Covardale married Mrs. Anstis Thompson, a widow, who 
was born in Virginia. Mr. Covardale has never had any chil- 
dren of his own. His stepson, William Thompson, carries on 
the farm. Franklin Thompson, his eldest stepson, is in Mont- 
gomery County, Kansas. Mrs. Mary Bishop and Mrs. Elizabeth 
Cresswell are his stepdaughters. 

Mr. Covardale is about five feet and nine inches in height, 
weighs one hundred and forty or fifty pounds, and has a san- 
guine complexion and white hair. He is a hard worker, and a 
most honest and worthy man. He thinks a great deal of the old 
settlers, and has himself seen some of the severest hardships of 
the early days. But he had the courage to do and the will to 
overcome. He is very frank and kind, and likes fair dealing, 
and possesses the fullest confidence of all with whom he is ac- 
quainted. 

Samuel Stewart. 

Samuel Stewart was born May 5, 1790, in Monongehela 
County, Virginia. His parents were Americans. His father 
died when Samuel was quite young. When he was twenty-one 
or two years of age he went to Hamilton County, Ohio, and be- 
gan farming with his brother, who had preceded him there. He 
returned to Virginia for a short time, but went back to Ohio. 
All of his travel was done on horseback. 

He was married in May, 1816, to Jane Hanley. This lady 
was born in 1791, and is yet living, and bids fair to enjoy life 
much longer. 

Mr. Stewart made a visit to Illinois in 1830, and bought a 
claim of A. M. Stringfield at Randolph's Grove. During the 
following year he moved to Randolph's Grove with his family in 
wagons. He immediately went to farming, as that was the oc- 
cupation of nearly all the old settlers. He also made brick and 
put up a brick house. The lumber used was sawed with a whip 
saw, indeed, this was almost the only way to make it. The 
cabins in early days were built without nails, and were simply 
pinned together. The door was made of split boards or shakes, 



m'lean county. 791 

and was called a clapboard door ; the floor of the cabin below 
was puncheon, while the floor of the loft was usually of linn 
bark. 

The Stewart family were for a long time after their arrival, 
very much annoyed by wolves, which made such a howling and 
barking around the house at night that it was impossible for any 
one to sleep. Mr. Stewart was often obliged to go out and fire 
his gun to frighten them away, in order that the family might 
obtain a little rest. 

During the celebrated sudden change in the weather in De- 
cember, 1836, Mr. Stewart had great difficulty in getting the 
children home from school. The Little Kickapoo was overflowed, 
but he succeeded in getting the children across by bringing them 
over on horseback, two at a time. 

Mr. Stewart was accustomed to hunt occasional^, and kept for 
this purpose a horse, which had quite a history. It was born in 
Pennsylvania, and emigrated to the West across the mountains. It 
was taken bv a soldier through the Black Hawk war, and on its 
return was traded to Mr. Stewart. Having seen many adven- 
tures, it may be supposed that the horse was possessed of a good 
degree of smartness. It could go anywhere, and open any gate 
or door, indeed if its smartness had continued to increase it 
might have learned to pick a lock or go through a dwelling. Mr. 
Stewart hunted with the horse, but after a while the animal be- 
came too refined for this, and pretended to be frightened by the 
report of a gun, and refused to allow Mr. Stewart to shoot from 
its back. When this horse was twenty-one years of age (its legal 
majority) it was supposed to have been stolen from its master, 
but the probability is that it considered itself too smart to ac- 
knowledge a master and ran away. 

The early settlers of course "went visiting," but their 
visits were made at times to suit their circumstances and the 
necessities of their life. They came before breakfast, and when 
they went to quiltings and house-raisings, they were on hand 
particularly early in order to do a good day's work, and return 
home early to feed their stock. 

Mr. Stewart had nine children in his family, and of these 
ei°;ht grew to be men and women. 

John Hanley Stewart lives in Bloomington. 



792 OLD SETTLERS OF 

James Newton Stewart died in Kentucky in 1845. 

Mrs. Isabel Jane Noble died in 1855. 

Sarah Ann Stewart died in 1845. 

Robert Stewart died in 1869. 

William Curtis Stewart lives two miles north of the home- 
stead. He was a bachelor until thirty-nine years of age, when 
he did his duty and married Mrs. Amanda Vandevort, who 
died March 19th, 1874. 

Hon. Archibald Evans Stewart is a physician. He lives at 
Randolph's Grove, at the old homestead, and is a member of the 
legislature. He served as surgeon in the Ninety-fourth Illinois 
Volunteers from 1862 until 1865. The homestead house, where 
he lives, was the first house built of brick in McLean County. It 
was erected in 1834. The brick was made on the farm. 

Mr. Samuel Stewart was six feet in height, rather spare, had 
brown eyes, rather light hair, was not very muscular, had a mild, 
pleasant expression on his countenance, and was indeed a worthy 
citizen. He was a strong friend of Governor Moore, and was one 
of the men who persuaded that gentleman to take an active part 
in politics. Mr. Stewart died January 8, 1841. 

John Hanley Stewart. 

John H. Stewart, eldest son of Samuel Stewart, was born 
October 28, 1817, in Hamilton County, Ohio. In October, 1831, 
the Stewart family, consisting of nine persons in all, together 
with the family of George Thompson, came to McLean County, 
Illinois. The reason why the Stewart family came West, was a 
desire on the part of the father of John H. Stewart to secure land 
for every member of his numerous family. 

Mr. Stewart, the subject of this sketch, went to school only 
six months in Ohio, and if his mother, who is a well informed 
lady, had not taken the matter in hand, his education would 
have been finished. Mr. Stewart speaks very highly of his old 
schoolmaster in Ohio, William Bebb, who afterwards emigrated 
to Illinois, where he died. Mr. Stewart was raised a farmer, 
like his father, but all the Stewarts are mechanics by nature. 
They possess great skill in the handling of carpenters' tools. 
They themselves did all the wood-work of the house of which 
we have spoken in his father's sketch. Their journey from Ohio 



m'lean county. 793 

to McLean County was without any adventure worthy to relate. 
They came with one horse team and one ox team, arriving at 
Randolph's Grove in the fall of 1831, the father having previously 
(in 1830) bought' a claim from A. M. Stringfield. During their 
first winter here, Mr. Stewart, and his brother, James Xewton, 
slept in a wagon, and the wolves often came when they were in 
their beds, snuffing and snorting around this primitive couch. 
Mr. Stewart's father, Samuel Stewart, gave A. M. Stringfield one 
hundred dollars for his claim, and as he had brought four hun- 
dred dollars with him from Ohio, he entered this claim and two 
hundred and forty acres besides. Mr. Stewart, sr., also entered 
eighty acres for A. M. Stringfield. 

Times were hard when the Stewart family came, and they 
had, of course, to endure all the hardships of a frontier life. 
When they came to the country they brought as many groceries 
with them as would last during the first year, which they had 
purchased at Cincinnati. After that they made their own maple 
sugar for many years. The family, on the whole, enjoyed good 
health, and soon found themselves in easy circumstances. All 
the children of Mr. Stewart, sr., the father of John H., were born 
in a log house in Hamilton County, Ohio, except Dr. Stewart, the 
present member of the legislature, who was born at Randolph's 
Grove, when the house of which we have spoken in the fore- 
going sketch was about half finished. The Stewart family was 
a happy, hard working family. The mother of the present stock 
is still living on the homestead farm, where they first settled. 
She is a remarkable lady, who now, at the age of eighty-three 
years, can walk a distance of half a mile as rapidly as a young 
girl of twenty. Her life is entirely wrapt up in her children, 
grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, (Delia, little daughter 
of Mr. H. C. Horine.) 

Mr. Stew^art never was much of a hunter, but he occasionally 
chased wolves, killing them with a stirrup when the chase was 
on horseback, which was the custom in those days. He also 
killed now and then a deer, but these animals were already scarce 
when he came to the country, the winter of the deep snow having 
made havoc among them. 

Mr. Stewart speaks with the greatest admiration of Squire 
A. M. Stringfield and Mrs. Stringfield. He says, that whatever 



794 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Squire Stringtield says is a tact to be relied on, and whatever he 
promises he will perform. 

In 1839, Mr. Stewart commenced farming on his own ac- 
count — and married, of course. The lady of his choice, who is 
still living, was Miss Jane Evans, daughter of Owen Evans, of 
Randolph's Grove. His father made him a present of eighty 
acres of land, to which he gradually added more. He continued 
farming up to 1857, when he sold out his timber-farm on account 
of failing health, and because he wished to give his children an 
education ; but he still carries on farming about six miles south 
of Bloomington, on the Main street road, on a tract of three hun- 
dred and twenty acres. 

He moved to Normal about the time the Normal University 
began its labors. There Mrs. Stewart kept a boarding-house, 
wrrich was the first house of the kind established' in Normal. 
During most of this time Mr. Stewart was in partnership with 
A. C. "Washburne in a meat-market, from which they supplied 
the whole of Normal with meat for about eight years. 

In 1872, Mr. Stewart went into the agricultural implement 
and machinery business, which is now carried on by him and his 
son-in-law, Mr. H. C. Horine. This house was started in 1870, 
by Frank Stewart, a nephew of Mr. Stewart. Mr. Horine be- 
came partner of the business in 1871, and when Frank went out 
of the firm, Mr. Stewart stepped in. The business, under the 
name of Stewart & Horine, is carried on at the corner of Main 
and Grove streets, Bloomington. 

Mr. Stewart has three children living. They are : 

Sarah, wufe of William Houser, who lives in Randolph town- 
ship. 

Emily, wife of H. C. Horine, lives in Bloomington. 

Mary I., wife of W. S. Vinyard, resides with her parents in 
Bloomington. 

Mr. Stewart is about six feet two inches in height, is well pro- 
portioned, appears to be quite muscular, and has a very erect 
walk. His hair and beard are almost gray; he has gray eyes, 
and uses glasses when he reads and writes. He is a very con- 
scientious man, and thinks well before he decides on anything ; 
but when he sets his mind on doino- anything he will do it with- 



m'lean county. 795 

out hesitation. lie is a kind and indulgent father to hie children. 
He has been, (by reason of care and industry,) successful in life, 
which is in a great measure due to his kind and hospitable wife. 

David Noble. 

David Noble was born in September, 1795, in Cincinnati, 
Ohio. He was of English and Dutch descent. His father was 
an old English sea captain, who came to the United States and 
married a Pennsylvania Dutch lady, and became thoroughly 
Americanized. David Noble was born in Cincinnati, when that 
place was no larger than Heyworth, that is, a village of two or 
three hundred people. He had a limited education, and as his 
parents were poor, was obliged to work his way through the world 
without learning or wealth. In 1817 he was married to Rebecca 
Karr. In 1828 he went to New Orleans in company with his 
brother, with a load of chickens and various other kinds of 
poultry, and by good managemert and good fortune they did very 
well with their stock. In the fall of 1830 he came to Illinois to 
see the country, and visited various points in Sangamon and Taze- 
well counties. He returned to Ohio during the same fall, and 
prepared to come "West. During the following year, October 3, 
1831, the Noble family started for McLean County, Illinois, and 
arrived there on the 20th. They traveled with a four-horse team. 
They came in near Squire A. M. Stringfield's place, and saw him 
chase a wolf on foot and catch it with his hands. Mr. Noble set 
his dog on the wolf before Stringfield caught it, but the dog was 
quickly whipped. Mr. Stringfield took the wolf home alive. 
Their journey was a hard one, as it rained nearly all the time they 
traveled. During one day they only went ten miles. They 
traveled long distances over corduroy roads. At one time they 
were mired down, a little this side of Urbana, and Mr. Joseph 
Noble (David's brother) was obliged to carry out his wife. Joseph 
Noble rode an old gray mare, which had a bad habit of lying 
down in the mud, when it was deep, and refusing to get up. The 
only way of compelling her to rise was to hold her head under 
the mud and water tor a while. 

David Noble lived, during nearly all of the first winter, in a 
cabin on old Mr. Passwaters' place, about one mile south of where 
William Noble now lives. After that the family went to the 



796 OLD SETTLERS OF 

cabin near where John Wakefield now lives. There they did 
some pretty hard grubbing, as the place joined the timber. David 
Noble stayed there until 1844 or '45, and then came five miles 
north, bought some new prairie and made a farm. 

The wife of David Noble died in 1837. In 1841 he was mar- 
ried to Mrs. Jane Arnold, a widow lady. 

Mr. Noble suffered with a stroke of paralysis a few years be- 
fore his death, which occurred in September, 1863. His domestic 
life was pleasant. He had ten children to raise and care for, six 
by his first marriage and four by his second. They are : 

William C. Noble, who lives at Randolph's'Grove. 

Mrs. Sarah Jane Munson, wife of Ira Munson, who lives in 
Randolph's Grove. 

Stephen K. Noble, who lives in Bloomington. 

James Iv. Noble, who lives in Bloomington. 

Mrs. Mercy Ann Rust, widow of George W. Rust, deceased, 
lives in Randolph's Grove. 

Thomas Jacob Noble lives a mile north of Randolph's Grove. 

The four children by his second marriage live with their 
mother in Champaign County, near Homer. They are : 

Mrs. Maria Louisa Custer. 

Mrs. Eliza Ann Hollis. 

Mrs. Martha E. Custer. 
' Harrison David Noble. 

David Noble was five feet and eleven inches in height, had a 
large, strong frame, and, before he was afflicted with paralysis, 
weighed two hundred pounds. He was very muscular, worked 
hard, and had usually good health. His hair was naturally black, 
and his eyes pleasing and expressive. 

William Crivlin Noble. 

William Crivlin Noble was born February 25, 1818, in Ham- 
ilton County, Ohio. His education was not very liberal, but was 
all that could be expected at that time. The scholars were then 
more remarkable for their muscle than their intellect, and had a 
habit of turning out the teacher on Christmas day. At one 
time, when they threatened to turn out the master, he compro- 
mised the matter by giving them a gallon of whisky and some 
eggs, and one of them was carried home insensible. Mr. Noble 



m'lean county. 797 

went to school to William Bebb, who was afterwards Governor 
of Ohio. The schoolmasters in those days made desperate 
attempts to teach the children politeness ; the girls were taught 
to courtesy to whoever they met, while going to or returning 
from school, and the boys were taught to bow, or as it was called, 
" make their manners." Mr. Noble came to Randolph's Grove 
with his father, David Noble, in the fall of 1831, and continued 
his schooling for two winters in Illinois. The falling of the 
meteors in 1833 impressed him very much. They fell it seemed 
by millions, to the north, south, east and west, and some of them 
made a large blaze. He felt no fear on account of this wonder- 
ful phenomenon, but the next morning, when he went to mill, 
he met so many persons who were frightened by the meteors 
that he began to be frightened himself. Some people were made 
crazy with fear. 

When he was sixteen years of age, he went to St. Louis and 
brought a load of goods for William H. Allin. He was gone on 
that trip about sixteen days, and received a dollar and a-quarter 
per hundred weight for hauling. 

Mr. Noble married, October 31, 1839, Isabel Jane Stewart, 
and by this happy marriage had three children. She died, May 
10, 1855. On the tenth of January, 1856, he married Eunice 
Burley, by Bailey H. Coffey, and has had three children living 
and one dead. Very few men are blessed with a more hapyy 
domestic life. 

In the fore part of February, 1856, Mr. Noble went on busi- 
ness to Kentucky. He crossed the Ohio River on horseback on 
the ice at Portsmouth. This was rather a dangerous matter, as 
he was obliged to wade his horse three feet deep in water to 
reach the ice, and it cracked under him while crossing. He 
rode around among the Kentucky hills, and it seemed some- 
times that he must fall into eternity. The hills were exceedingly 
steep, and nothing but a Kentucky horse could travel among 
them. A horse from Illinois could never have found a foothold. 

Mr. Noble is about six feet in height, is broad shouldered and 
strongly built, is a hard worker, is very clever and good natured, 
appreciates fun, is a good neighbor and a good American citizen. 



798 old settlers of 

Joseph Karr Noble. 

Joseph K. Noble was born October 9, 1823, in Whitewater 
township, Hamilton County, Ohio. His father's name was 
Joseph Noble, and his mother's name before her marriage was 
Nancy Karr. Joseph Noble was born in Ohio, and Nancy Karr 
in New Jersey. Both were of American descent. The Noble 
family, consisting of six members in all, came to Randolph's 
Grove, McLean County, Illinois, in the fall of 1831. There 
Joseph Noble bought a farm partly improved for one hundred 
and fifty dollars and two horses and a wagon. During the first 
winter they lived in a large log cabin with an entry between. 
But their conveniences were not great, as two other families as 
large as their own lived with them. During that winter, nearly 
all the streams were frozen up, so that the mills could not run. 
Every family was therefore obliged to have its hominy mortar 
with which to crack frostbitten corn. They had no fruit nor 
vegetables, except turnips, but had plenty of venison and wild 
turkeys. Joseph Noble was then a lad eight years of age, but 
the scenes of those early days are clearly impressed on his mind. 
He remembers going with a party out to a wolf pen, put up by 
Gardner Randolph, and there finding a wolf, which was so in- 
cautious as to trust himself within it. The following is Mr, 
Noble's description of the pen : " It was made of logs notched 
close at the corners, growing gradually smaller at the top, so 
that when the wolf was on the outside it was easy to climb up, 
but too high to climb out while on the inside." The settlers 
usually killed the wolves by chasing them on horseback and 
killing them with clubs. During the Black Hawk war, the set- 
tlers were often frightened, and Mr. Noble tells a queer story of 
a scare he experienced while out in the woods at play. Said he : 
" I heard a strange noise and started to the house taking my 
youngest brother on my back. Looking across the field I saw 
my father coming on his horse from the plow as fast as possible. 
We arrived at the house out of breath and found that the bees 
were swarming, and mother was calling for father and was 
pounding a frying pan with a large iron spoon to make the bees 
settle. You may be sure that we were glad the trouble was 
occasioned by bees instead of Indians." 



m'lean county. 799 

Mr. Noble did not receive an extended education. He went 
to school when quite young, and one of his teachers was John 
Moore, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. Mr. Noble 
learned at an early age what it was to work. At the age of fif- 
teen he drove a team of ten steers, called a prairie breaking 
team. With them he broke ground for various parties, among 
others for James Allin, of Bloomington. He broke the ground 
where the Chicago and Alton Machine Shops now stand. The 
remainder of Mr. Noble's sketch may be given in his own words : 
" I cannot remember precisely all of the settlers who were in 
Randolph's Grove when I first came. They were usually young 
folks with small families. But notwithstanding their few chil- 
dren, they were obliged to work very hard for their own and 
their children's support, for nearly all their wearing apparel was 
made by themselves, was spun, woven, cut, fitted and sewed. 
The people here were from many States, but they all appeared 
members of one family. They endured the privations and dis- 
comforts of life together. When any one needed assistance it 
was always forthcoming. The women had quiltings and sewing 
bees, and the men had house raisings and corn huskings. In 
after years the different settlements joined together in wolf 
hunts, raised a pole on a high piece of ground, hoisted a flag 
and on a certain day all turned out and drove the game to the 
center. When they came near the pole, it was fun to see some 
on foot with long rifies ready to shoot the first deer or wolf, and 
others on horses chasing the tired game. Some would be thrown 
from their horses, and others would fall when their horses stum- 
bled in the active chase. Those good old times will never come 
again! " 

When Mr. Noble was twenty-four years of age, he married 
Miss Lemira Hampton, who was born within the boundaries of 
the present county of McLean. Her father came to the country 
from Tennessee, the year before the deep snow. Mr. Noble has 
had six children, of whom five are living. They are : 

John S., Charles M., Nannie M., Robert K. and Joseph P. 
Noble ; all of whom live at home. Mr. Noble is about five feet 
and ten inches in height, is rather spare and straight, and has 
dark hair and gray eyes. He appears to be a very good neigh- 
bor, and his remarks concerning the old settlers and the condi- 



800 OLD SETTLERS OF 

tion of things during the early days, show him to be a man of 
good feeling. 

Dr. Harrison Noble. 

Dr. Harrison Noble was born March 6, 1812, in Hamilton 
County, Ohio. His father's name was John Noble, and his 
mother's maiden name was Sarah Price. John Noble was of 
English descent, but he was a soldier in the Revolutionaiy war 
and thereby became cut off from the English branch of the fam- 
ily, and nothing is known of it. Harrison Noble had a fair edu- 
cation, and while still in his youth taught school for a livelihood. 
He also worked at the carpenter's trade, and a part of the time 
was a farmer. In after years he was a physician, and also a sur- 
veyor. He had a mind evenly developed and well balanced, and 
could succeed in many professions. 

Mr. Noble was married, March 21, 1833, to Miss Abby Cook, 
in Hamilton County, Ohio. In 1833 he came to the West. His 
trip was a hard one, through swamps and creeks during a wet 
season, but by good fortune and good management he came safely 
through. He settled at Randolph's Grove with Joseph Noble, 
si*., who had moved out some time before. Harrison Noble sold 
two horses and obtained money to enter eighty acres of land. 
Then he built a cabin and moved into it, and worked his land 
with a horse belonging to his mother. He hired a man to break 
six or eight acres of land and paid for it by carpenter work. He 
had knowledge of many trades, and his handiness now stood him 
in good stead, for if he could not find work to do at one employ- 
ment, he followed another, and succeeded well at everything. 
He did some surveying, taught school, worked as a carpenter, 
and did anything at which his hands could be usefully employed. 

Mr. Noble was an Old-Line Whig. That party was in the 
minority in McLean County in the early days. But people then 
cared less for party ties than for popular men. In about the year 
1840 Mr. Noble came out as an independent candidate for sur- 
veyor, and of course his merits and demerits were sharply criti- 
cized, but it was pretty well understood that if he could show 
himself qualified for this position he would be elected. About 
this time a curious circumstance occurred. General Gridley and 
General Covel had a warm discussion concerning his ability. The 



m'lean county. 801 

latter was a Democrat. General Covel said: "I'll bet you he 

can't tell the number of acres in a piece of laud with many 

rods on one side," &c, and lie gave the number of rods on each 
of four sides. General Gridley took the bet, and as soon as he 
saw Mr. Noble, the problem was stated. "-Now," said General 
Gridley, "how many acres are in that piece of land?" "There 
may be more and there may be less," said Mr. Noble. "Now," 
thought Gridley, " Iv'e lost my bet."* But Mr. Noble continued 
and explained that the angles must be given ; for if they were 
not given the sides might be so arranged as to enclose a great 
many acres, or scarcely any at all. Then he picked up a limber 
switch and bent it into a four-sided figure, and by making the 
angles sometimes right angles and sometimes acute, he explained 
the matter clearly. "Well," said Gridley, "Covel and I are both 
fools." This incident was told many times, and it made friends 
for Mr. Noble, for it made him acquainted. The incident was 
related by Hon. John Cusey. Mr. Noble held the office of sur- 
veyor for three terms. When he was about thirty-five years of 
age he commenced the study of medicine by himself. He after- 
wards attended o.ne course of lectures at Cincinnati, and received 
his diploma. He practiced medicine and was quite successful. 

Mr. Noble had five children by his first marriage, but only 
two are living. They are : 

Jacob Noble lives on the line between the townships of Ran- 
dolph and Funk's Grove. 

Sarah Maria, wife of John Perry, lives in Danvers township. 

Mrs. Noble died in about the year 1844. On the 15th of 
April, 1848, Mr. Noble married Mrs. Jane E. Marmon. By this 
marriage one child was born, John Locke Noble, who lives on 
the homestead place. 

Dr. Noble died August 12, 1870. He was about six feet in 
height, had black hair and gray eyes, was very muscular, and in 
his younger days a great wrestler. His feet were deformed, and 
toed in, but this was an advantage in wrestling. "While he was 
attending lectures, a person inquired of him whether on account 
of his deformity he was not obliged to bear with insults. Dr. 
Noble gave the gentleman a proof of his skill, which decided the 
matter. Dr. Noble was a very honest man and very popular in 
McLean County. 
51 



802 old settlers of 

Walter Karr. 

Walter Karr was born July 8, 1797, in Sussex County, New 
Jersey. His father's name was Thomas Karr, and his mother's 
maiden name was Celia Lewis, both Americans. Mr. Karr was 
not old enough to be a soldier in the war of 1812, though many 
of his relatives were in it. He had a half-brother who was cap- 
tured by the British when Hull surrendered at Detroit. The 
Americans were very unfortunate at the outset, for, in addition 
to the calamity of Hull's disgraceful surrender, there came what 
was known as the cold plague, which carried off nine hundred 
men in one winter from the command of General Cass, who had 
only twenty-five hundred men in his command. It was a strange 
disease, which the physicians did not understand. This, Mr. Karr 
says, was told to him by his brother. 

Walter Karr had come to Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, 
in 1807. The village of Cincinnati then contained sixteen or 
seventeen hundred people. On their journey from New Jersey 
the Karr family went first to Elizabethtown, between the Alle- 
gheny and Monongehela Rivers, and there built a flatboat or 
'•Yankee sled." Mr. Karr's father and brother took the horses 
there and came through, but the rest of the family went down 
on the flatboat. Some other parties on board had attached a 
keelboat for the convenience of cooking, and all on board went 
joyfully along to the new country. No incident of importance 
occurred before their arrival in Hamilton County. It was about 
that time that General Harrison was governor of Indiana terri- 
tory. The general was a very kind-hearted man, and always 
willing to do a favor, but wanted it appreciated. Mr. Karr tells 
a story of General Harrison, which shows the eccentricity of the 
man. In 1834, when Mr. Karr was traveling, he went with his 
heavily loaded wagon past General Harrison's premises. The 
latter had previously changed the road across his premises, but as 
the fence was down Mr. Karr took the old road. General Harri- 
son rushed out and said: "Stop ! turn about, go back." But a 
man, named Johnson, reasoned with the general, and asked the 
privilege of going ahead, when the general replied: "Yes, go 
ahead, but for God's sake keep off my meadow!" "Now," said 
Mr. Karr, "if we had first asked the privilege of crossing his 



m'lean county. 803 

premises on the old road and given him a chance to do a favor, 
which would be appreciated, he would have said : 'Yes, gentle- 
men, for God's sake, go ahead!' " 

Mr. Karr clearly remembers the earthquake of 1811, which 
shook down Xew Madrid, and sank the lands of the river St. 
Francis in Arkansas. The shocks were clearly felt in Ohio, but 
no damage was done. 

While coming down the Ohio, in June, 1815, Mr. Karr saw 
the first steamboat which came up from Xew Orleans to Pittsburg. 
It was called the Enterprise. 

In February, 1834, Mr. Karr started for the "West. He went 
by steamboat to Pekin, and from there came across by team to 
McLean County with Seth Baker, and arrived at the latter place 
March 11, 1834. On the day of his arrival the weather was so 
warm that he killed a snake, one of the jointed kind, which flew 
to pieces when struck. On the fourteenth of March, two men, 
Hopping and Torrence, gathered spring flowers, and the weather 
was indeed beautiful. But on the fourteenth of May a severe 
frost came and cut the buds on the trees, turned the leaves com- . 
pletely brown and froze a crust on the ground. 

Mr. Karr tells some strange facts concerning the sudden 
change in December, 1836, When this change in the weather 
occurred, Mr. John Wesley Karr was milking cows, as an indus- 
trious farmer's boy should. He immediately started for home, a 
quarter of a mile distant, but on reaching it he became so cold 
that he could not speak. 

Mr. Karr went to farming upon his arrival in the West, and 
succeeded fairly well, but suffered severely with the hard times 
from 1837 to 1842. The winter of 1842-3 was the longest of 
which he has any recollection. The snow came early, and, with 
the exception of a January thaw, remained until late in March. 
Mr. Karr did not learn of any plowing done that spring before 
the month of May. He sowed a patch of spring wheat that year 
on the fifth of May, and raised fifteen bushels to the acre. The 
winter wheat was all frozen out and had to be re-sown. But not- 
withstanding these discouraging circumstances, people in many 
instances raised during that year more than thirty bushels of 
wheat to the acre, and the crops were generally most excellent. 
During the spring previous, in 1842, he sowed wheat about the 



804 



OLD SETTLERS OF 



eighteenth or twentieth of March, and on the last of March it 
was green. He did not harvest it until August, and obtained 
from it two hundred bushels from six bushels of seed, or thirty- 
three and one-third bushels per acre. He hauled one load of it 
to Chicago in September, and sold it for sixty- three cents per 
bushel, and thought he made a very good trip. Mr. Karr has 
been a careful farmer. 

Perhaps it may be a matter of interest to the reader to know 
something of the taxes which have been paid within the last 
thirty-five years. Mr. Karr gives his taxes as shown by his re- 
ceipts, and in the list below the taxes after 1843 are all upon 
nearly the same land. Since 1856-7 he has paid taxes on four 
acres less ground than in 1845. 



Year 1839, 


$2 


53J 


Yeai 


• 1840, 


$4 66 


Yeai 


• 1841, 


$8 02 


a 


1842, 


3 


07 


a 


1843, 


5 88 


a 


1844, 


7 53 


u 


1845, 


7 


44 


a 


1846, 


7 74 


a 


1847, 


8 74 


it 


1848, 


7 


97 


a 


1849, 


10 41 


a 


1850, 


12 05 


a 


1851, 


19 


69 


u 


1852, 


15 67 


a 


1853, 


29 24 


a 


1854, 


27 


56 


it 


1855, 


40 88 


a 


1856, 


49 57 


it 


1857, 


57 


17 


a 


1858, 


44 17 


a 


1859, 


51 85 


a 


1860, 


41 


99 


« 


1861, 


31 56 


it 


1862, 


36 89 


a 


1863, 


90 


49 


« 


1864, 


84 45 


a 


1865, 


91 81 


a 


1866, 


131 


59 


a 


1867, 


141 05 


a 


1868, 


137 88 


a 


1869, 


166 


48 


a 


1870, 


121 41 


a 


1871, 


122 63 


cc 


1872, 


112 


65. 














This does 


not include 


Mr. 


Karr's 


taxes on 


town lots and other 



property. It will be seen that the average for the first seventeen 
years, beginning with 1839, was $12.89, and the average for the 
last seventeen years is $89.06. The reader will note the sudden 
rise of taxes from 1862 to '63, when they nearly trebled on ac- 
count of the war. 

Mr. Karr married in 1823, Eliza Ann Karr, a daughter of his 
cousin. He has had eight children, of whom four are living. 
They are : 

Edwin Karr lives one mile and a quarter south of his father's. 

Mrs. Harriet Kinzel lives in Bloomington. 

Henry A. Karr lives with his father. 

Mrs. Celia Rockwell lives at Clinton, in DeWitt County. 

Mr. Karr is a man of medium height ; his hair is only partly 



m'lean county. 805 

gray, though he is seventy-six years of age. His long, full beard 
is nearly white, and his eyes are very bright. This gives to him 
a venerable appearance. He complains that his memory is fail- 
ing with age, but many persons would be glad to have one as 
good as his at present. He is a modest man and unassuming, but- 
possessed of good judgment. Perhaps the most marked trait in 
his character is his love of truth and honest dealing. In giving 
some items of the days that are gone, he was very particular to 
tell the truth and nothina; but the truth. Let us all do likewise. 



THE RUST FAMILY. 

William Rust. 

William Rust was born in Granville County, North Carolina, 
February 23, 1792. His father was of English descent. 

Mr. Rust was raised in North Carolina. On the 8th of Janu- 
ary, 1811, he married Nancy McGee, and soon after moved to 
Middle Tennessee. During the latter part of the war of 1812, 
Mr. Rust became a soldier. He was sick during much of his 
time in the army, but was at the battle of New Orleans at the 
close of the war. He often described the fight, and said that the 
British came very close to the works before the Americans were 
allowed to fire. After the British General Packenham fell, the 
command devolved upon General Lambert, who was repulsed 
with frightful loss. At the close of the battle he asked permis- 
sion to bury the dead, but General Jackson sent the British dead 
to them. 

Sometime after the close of the war, Mr. Rust emigrated to 
West Tennessee, where he lived a number of years. In 1829 he 
moved to Hamilton County, Illinois. Here he first made a half- 
faced camp in the timber, in which the family lived until they 
could build a log cabin. This was made of round logs, after- 
wards smoothed down on the inside. Mr. Rust improved a farm 
of thirty-five or forty acres, and built a large tobacco house. This 
was a log house sixty feet long and twenty feet wide, with an 
open space twenty feet wide through the middle, but covered with 
a roof. Wagon loads of tobacco were driven into this opening 
and unloaded on each side. The house held five tiers of tobacco. 



806 OLD SETTLERS OF 

In the fall of 1834, Mr. Rust came to McLean Count}*. He 
stopped first with Jesse Funk, then went for a few days into an 
old school-house, until he could rent a farm of Samuel Stewart. 
At the end of two years he bought a piece of land for himself 
and improved a farm. It is now owned by William C. Xoble. 
He broke prairie, raised stock, and succeeded well. In the spring 
of 1847 he went to Lytleville, and there engaged in the milling 
business. He first had a mill driven by water, but by the failure 
of water he was compelled to use steam. He then had two 
partners, Wooster and Hougham. In about the year 1867, he 
sold out, and retired to a quiet life. He was constable and jus- 
tice of the peace during the active years of his life. 

Mr. Rust had nine children, five boys and four girls. James 
W., John F., and George W. Rust, live in Randolph township ; 
Martha Ann, wife of Wilson Lindley, lives in Cowley County, 
Kansas; William M., Harvey J., and Mary, wife of David Hough- 
am, live in Randolph township ; Arnetta and Nancy Caroline 
Rust are both dead. 

Mr. Rust was about five feet and ten inches in height in his 
prime. He was a good-looking man, was healthy and square- 
shouldered, and weighed one hundred and seventy-five pounds. 
His e3 r es were blue, and his hair was almost black. He was a 
very honest man, faithful in fulfilling his obligations, and had 
this reputation among all with whom he had occasion to deal. 
He died at Randolph's Grove, August 26, 1873, aged eighty-one 
years six months and three days. 

John F. Rust. 

John Rust was born August 11, 1816, in Murray County, 
Middle Tennessee. In 1824, the family went to Monroe County, 
Mississippi, but after two years they went to Hardeman County, 
West Tennessee, and afterwards to Hickman County. In 1829, 
they came to Hamilton County, Illinois. During the winter of 
the deep snow, John Rust amused himself by hunting coons. In 
the winter season he often hunted muskrats and tore open their 
houses and killed them with hoes. He first knocked on the 
houses, and if any muskrats were within they would jump into 
the water and their plash could be heard. 

In the spring of 1834, Isaac and Jesse Funk came down to 



m'lean county. 807 

Hamilton County to buy cattle. John Rust then hired out to 
Jesse Funk for six months, and was to receive fifty dollars as his 
wages. He started on his journey with the cattle to McLean 
County. He carried his extra clothes on his back. As they 
troubled him a good deal, he pulled off his trousers, stuffed his 
clothes into the legs, tied the bottoms, threw them over his 
shoulders and went on. The wages, which John Rust earned, 
were paid to his father, until the former was twenty-one years of 
age. For seven years, John Rust worked driving cattle, exposed 
to all kinds of weather. In January, 183G, he drove hogs to 
Chicago for Isaac Funk. A heavy snow came shortly after they 
started. At Wolf Grove they commenced dragging an elm log 
fastened to the rear axle of a wagon to break the way. The 
weather was desperately cold, and during one night about six 
inches of snow fell on them as they lay on the ground. At Sul- 
phur Springs they found the road somewhat broken, and they 
abandoned their elm log. They found the rapids at the Kan- 
kakee partly frozen and partly open, and they were obliged to 
break the ice clear across. The hogs refused to go into the 
water until the drovers built parallel rail fences, and compelled 
the swine to follow down between them and go into the water. 
When the drivers came out of the water, their clothes were frozen 
on them in a few moments. They arrived at last at Chicago. It 
was Mr. Rust's first sight of the place, and he was much interested 
in Fort Dearborn, which was then standing. Mr. Rust received 
fifty cents per day for his work. On his return, he went with 
Gardner Randolph with a drove of swine to Galena. His great- 
est trouble on this trip was the crossing of Rock River at Dixon, 
which was attended with difficulty on account of the drifting ice. 
But the cold was very severe when he returned, and he was sick 
for some time with rheumatism brought on by exposure. 

During the sudden change in December, 1836, Mr. Rush was 
hauling a load of cord wood from Sulphur Springs, where Mr. 
Hinshaw now lives, to Mr. Thompson's mill in Pone Hollow at 
Bloomington. When he arrived at the mill he had difficulty in 
unyoking the oxen, as the keys were frozen fast in the yoke. 
When he drove the oxen into the barn lot he found the chickens 
frozen into the slush. During this winter he worked for sixteen 
dollars per month, and his father drew his wages. But he worked 



808 OLD SETTLERS OF 

after time and made extra wages, and with this money be bought 
his first good suit of clothes. These were the clothes which he 
afterwards wore at his wedding. 

In January, 1838, Mr. Rush went with William and John 
Lindley with a drove of swine to Aurora. The cold was severe 
and a heavy snow was on the ground. One of the drovers, 
named Hiram Reilley, was about to freeze to death on his horse. 
The men pulled him off', rolled him in the snow, whipped and 
pounded him into life and took him to the house. During that 
night he burnt his boots to a crisp while trying to keep warm. 
He was discharged and sent home the next day. Many of the 
hogs had become injured or disabled and were placed in a wagon 
and drawn by oxen. But when they attempted to cross Long 
Point Creek, the oxen could not pull the wagon with its heavy 
load up the steep bank. Mr. Rust jumped into the water on 
that bitterly cold day, pulled out the end board, and the load of 
disabled swine was dumped into the creek. The wagon was 
pulled out, reloaded, and the party proceeded. "While on their 
way to Chicago, they were subjected to severe changes of 
weather. It was first very cold, then warm and then cold again. 
The drove of swine swam across the Vermilion River, but 
crossed the Illinois and Fox Rivers, and Buck Creek above Ot- 
tawa on the ice. On Mr. Rust's return from Aurora, a winter 
thunderstorm set in, and he and his brother were obliged to 
swim Buck Creek. When they came out of the water, they 
wrung their socks, poured a pint of whisky into their boots and 
went on. Shortly afterwards it became so intensely cold that 
their clothes were frozen on them stiff. They stopped at the 
house of a man, named Clark, at Ottawa. When Mr. Rust pulled 
off his overcoat it stood up straight against the wall. From Ot- 
tawa they came home without further adventure. 

Mr. Rust obtained a hundred and twenty acres of land in 
DeWitt County, as the result of much labor. On the 22d of 
October, 1840, he married Margaret Elizabeth Lindley, youngest 
child of John Lindley, sr. When Mr. Rust spoke of his mar- 
riage, in giving these items, Mrs. Rust said ; " What kind of a 
place do you think he took me to ? It was away off', where I 
did n't see a woman for three weeks, and we lived in a little 
cabin without any window, and the light came down the chim- 



m'lean county. 809 

ney, and the wolves howled around us !" But Mrs. Rust enjoyed 
those early days, notwithstanding the rude surroundings. The 
family now live in Randolph's Grove, near where Mr. Rust, sr., 
first made a permanent settlement when he came to McLean 
County. 

Mr. Rust has had eleven children, of whom eight are living. 
They are : 

George "W". Rust lives three miles east of his father's. 

Thomas J. Rust lives about a mile and a quarter east of Ran- 
dolph Station, in Randolph township. 

John L., Jennie, Alice, William Douglas, Minnie and Ben 
Rust, all live at home. 

Mr. Rust is five feet and ten inches in height, weighs about 
two hundred and ten pounds, has a sanguine complexion, a bald 
head, and thin, sandy hair. He is muscular, has a great deal of 
courage, and the best of business qualifications. Perhaps his 
most marked characteristic is his fidelity, his faithfulness to his 
trust. Everything entrusted to his care has been well attended 
to, and everybody by whom he was employed had great con- 
fidence in him. He owns about nine hundred acres of land, has 
a great deal of stock, drives his business carefully and succeeds 
well. 

William Marion Rust. 

William Marion Rust was born January 31, 1821, in Murray 
County, Middle Tennessee. He came with the family to Ham- 
ilton County, Illinois, and in the fall of 1834 to Randolph's 
Grove, McLean County. He was an active, industrious worker 
and gained a fair start in the early settlement of the county. 
He enjoyed the sports of the early days, particularly the great 
ring hunts. A great hunt was once organized, and a month or 
more was required for preparation. The pole was erected be- 
tween Randolph's and Funk's Grove, and on it was a banner, 
which bore the words, "Wolves and Deer," in large letters. The 
affair came off to the satisfaction of all parties, and the sport 
was rare indeed. Sometimes these chases were a little danger- 
ous. Mr. William Stewart was severely injured while with a 
large party after a wolf. His horse stumbled into a hole and 
fell, and he was so severely injured that his life was despaired of. 



810 OLD SETTLERS OF 

On the 24th of January, 1842, Mr. Rust married Catherine 
Myers. He has had nine children, of whom five are living. 
They are : 

Amanda, wife of Eher String-field, lives at Randolph's Grove. 

Franklin Rust lives at home. 

Amy, wife of Joseph H. Lacey, lives in Jackson County, 
Missouri. 

Carrie and George B. Rust live at home. 

Mr. Rust is five feet nine inches and a half in height, and is 
in good health and spirits. He is a very fair, reliable man and 
understands well how to manage his business. He has an inter- 
esting family, and appears to lead a contented life. He looks 
back with pleasure to the sports of the early days, and says that 
nothing at the present time equals the chases on the prairie after 
the wolves and deer. 

Harvey Jackson Rust. 

Harvey J. Rust was born January 6, 1823, in Murray County, 
Tennessee. He moved to various places with the family, and in 
1829 came to Hamilton County, Illinois. Hamilton County was 
then a great place for game, deer, wolves, wildcats and elk. The 
elk were not numerous, but the deer and wolves were abundant. 
Many people there made their living by hunting. They put up 
blinds in the trees and built fires there for the purpose of attract- 
ing the deer. Such positions were safe, and the hunters were 
protected from the wolves. The fires were built on platforms of 
boards, covered with earth, and were about fifteen feet from the 
ground. In the night time the deer stared at the fires and were 
shot down. These fires were made near the salt licks. In the 
fall of the year the deer came into the fields or enclosures and 
ate the corn and turnips. They were particularly fond of the 
latter. Sometimes the deer would knock off the rail of a fence 
while jumping over, and they would always afterwards jump over 
at that place. The farmers' boys would take advantage of this 
and kill the deer by placing sharp stakes in the ground near the 
fence, so that the deer would jump over on them. Mr. Rust 
sometimes killed deer in this manner, though it seems to have 
been a very cruel way. 



m'lean county. 811 

In the fall of 1834 the Rust family came to Randolph's Grove, 

Illinois, and here commenced forming. They first rented land 
and afterwards bought ground near where John F. Rust now 
lives. Harvey Rust worked at home until he was twenty-one 
3'ears of age. Then he went with Isaac Funk and others to take 
a drove of hogs to Chicago. They went to Wolf Grove, thence 
to the Mazon, then on the Kankakee and from there to Chicago. 
The weather was very cold and many hogs froze to death. Mr. 
Rust earned his money during the early days by hard work. He 
broke prairie for various parties, for John Moore, Dr. Karr, Isaac 
Funk, the Stubblefields, Jesse "W. Fell, and many others. He 
received from $2.50 to $3.50 per acre. But when he broke prai- 
rie for Mr. Fell the times were so hard that he could get only 
$1.50 per acre, and took his pay in Illinois money, worth only 
forty cents on the dollar. 

In 1850 Mr. Rust traded a horse for a land warrant, and en- 
tered eighty acres of land about two miles southwest of where 
Randolph Station now is. He then had only his land and a wife. 
He was none too quick in entering his land, for the charter for 
the Illinois Central Railroad was passed during the next year, 
and the land office was closed for a season. He worked very 
hard to get a start, and succeeded. In 1852 he built a house and 
moved into it, and on this land he has ever since made his home. 

Mr. Rust was no hunter. He once was passing through the 
timber when his two dogs caught a lynx, and Mr. Rust pounded 
it to death with a club. It measured six feet from head to tail. 

On the 24th of February, 1848, Mr. Rust married Miss Ruth 
E. Burroughs. She died in 1862. In 1863 Mr. Rust married 
Miss Elizabeth Hoover, a very pleasant lady. 

Mr. Rust is of medium height, and not very heavy. His face 
is rather long in shape, and his head is somewhat bald. He is 
very entertaining in conversation, and it is a pleasure to listen to 
him. He is a very kind and hospitable man, and seems ready to 
accommodate his friends and neighbors. He has succeeded well 
in life, and is in easy circumstances. 



812 old settlers of 

Campbell "Wakefield. 

Campbell Wakefield was born February 11, 1804, in Crosby 
township, Hamilton County, Ohio. His father, whose name was 
Andrew Wakefield, was born May 5, 1765, in County Antrim, 
Ireland. His mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Camp- 
bell, was born December 16, 1772, in Franklin County, Pennsyl- 
vania. Her parents came from Ireland, though the name is 
Scotch. The Wakefields came originally from England ; they 
went to Ireland during the rebellion. When Mr. Andrew Wake- 
field was eighteen years of age he came to the United States. He 
married, 1794, in Franklin County, and immediately went to 
kelson County, Kentucky, where he had previously prepared a 
farm. The journey was made on pack horses. Mr. Wakefield's 
relatives were well acquainted with the Lincoln family in Ken- 
tucky, which produced one of the greatest of American presi- 
dents. Mr. Campbell Wakefield says he always admired Mr. 
Lincoln's social qualities, though he could not act with him politi- 
cally. In 1803, Mr. Andrew Wakefield went to Crosby town- 
ship, Hamilton County, Ohio, and lived there until his death, 
which occurred June 23, 1828. The new country was then 
infested with horse-thieves, and Mr. Wakefield, sr., was one of 
the leaders of a band of men who " weeded out,' the pests of 
society, and wounded and captured the leader, John Long. Camp- 
bell Wakefield received his common school education in Ohio. He 
remembers very little of the war of 1812, and simply calls to 
mind that many soldiers went from Hamilton County, and that 
Hull's surrender at Detroit, caused a very profouud sensation. 
He was never a great sportsman, but sometimes amused himself 
by hunting coons and opossums with dogs at night. The people 
there were accustomed to harvest all of their grain with a sickle. 
Whisky was a commonplace thing in the harvestfield. The peo- 
ple raised all their own fiax, and the women dressed and spun it. 
Campbell Wakefield married, May 24, 1827, Margaret Elder, who 
was born December 19, 1803, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. 
They were married by the Rev. Thomas Thomas, in Whitewater 
township, Hamilton County, Ohio. They have one son, John 
Elder Wakefield, who was born May 10, 1828, in Crosby town- 
ship, Ohio. He is their only child. 



m'lean county. 813 

In June, 1835, Mr. Wakefield came to McLean County, Illi- 
nois, and bought land, where he now lives, near Hey worth. He 
returned to Ohio and brought out liis family in October of the 
same year. He came with one large ox-team and two horse- 
teams. He immediately went to farming. He lived at first in a 
double cabin made of round logs with the bark still on. It was 
a rough dwelling, but it served his purpose for six years. He 
hauled his wheat to Chicago, took his own provisions with him, 
and received forty or fifty cents per bushel. There they bought 
their boots and shoes and leather and other necessaries. He re- 
members the celebrated sudden change in the weather of Decem- 
ber, 1836, and says that the first blast which came from the west 
froze everything up solid and covered the earth with a coating 
of ice. He hunted deer on the ice, and as it was everywhere 
slippery he succeeded in catching them with dogs. Mr. Wake- 
field has had rare sport in killing deer and wolves, and has fre- 
quently participated in the general hunts towards a pole put up 
in some central locality. He has continued farming up to the 
present time, has entered some land and bought some, and con- 
tinued adding to his original tract until he has obtained about 
fifteen hundred acres nearly all together. A part of it is now 
occupied by John Elder Wakefield, who lives a short distance 
west of his father's homestead. 

Mr. Wakefield is of medium height and rather solidly built. 
His average weight is about one hundred and eighty-four pounds. 
His head is large and English in appearance. He has a large 
brain, and seems to be a man of most excellent judgment. The 
lines on his face indicate success and prosperity. He seems to be 
a very firm and decided man, and appears to be conscious of the 
fact, that in whatever he does or undertakes, he is backed up by 
the most correct judgment. He was commissioned justice of the 
peace, August 25, 1840, by Governor Thomas Carlin. He was 
re-elected, and commissioned by Thomas Ford, who succeeded 
Mr. Carlin as governor of Illinois. Mr. Wakefield had very 
little to do, as the people tried to deal fairly with each other and 
settle their differences without resorting ' to law. They had no 
use for locks on their doors. Mr. Wakefield served as commis- 
sioner appointed to divide several large landed estates, and tlii< 
service he performed carefully and scrupulously.' In politics lie 



814 OLD SETTLERS OF 

has been a Democrat. His first vote was cast in Ohio for Old 
Hickory, (the favorite title for General Jackson.) He has now a 
circular which was issued by the enemies of Jackson, with a view 
of influencing voters. It was called the " coffin circular." Gene- 
ral Jackson was not a man to stand on trifles, and on one occa- 
sion hung two men, by the exercise of military power, when he 
thought a desperate occasion required it. This coffin circular 
was sent around for the purpose of striking horror into the minds 
of the people ; but it had quite a contrary effect. Mr. Wakefield 
is a man of liberality and public spirit. He owned the land on 
which the town of Heyworth stands. He made many appropria- 
tions for public purposes. He gave the land where the Presby- 
terian Church now stands, for the purpose of erecting a church 
thereon. He gave land for the district school of the town, also 
land to encourage the building of the steam-mill first put up by 
Caussin and Wilson, and afterwards by Mr. Dice F. Hall. He 
donated the undivided half of forty acres of land to induce the 
Illinois Central Railroad to locate the depot in Heyworth, where 
it now stands. He made other donations to encourage trade and 
induce business men to locate at Heyworth. This generous policy 
has had its effect in the growth of the town and the enterprise 
and thrift of the place. Mr. Wakefield pays a tribute of respect 
to his wife, and says that his success in life has been due in a 
great measure to her influence. He has been enabled to acquire 
some considerable property, and it is due to the prudence and 
wise counsels of his wife that he has saved it. 

Dr. Thomas Karr. 

Dr. Thomas Karr was born on the twenty-third of April, 1793, 
in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His father, Captain John Karr, 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. His mother's maiden 
name was Mercy Lee, and both father and mother came from old 
English stock. His great-grandfather knew Philadelphia when 
it was but a whortleberry patch. Like nearly all of our old set- 
tlers, Thomas Karr sprang from a numerous family ; he had five 
brothers and four sisters. While Thomas was yet an infant his 
father moved to the township of Mansfield, Sussex County, New 
Jersey, east of the Delaware River. Here he received his early 
education in a district school kept in a little log school-house 



m'lean county. 815 

with only one window. Thomas was a precocious boy in some 
respects : for whether or not he was very forward with his les- 
sons, he certainly was well advanced in the favor of those trouble- 
some creatures who plague the lives of school-boys — the girls ! 
When he was sixteen or seventeen years of age, he took (fliite a 
fancy to a young girl, and while dancing with her at noon around 
a bucket of water, they accidently upset it. The teacher took 
them to task for it, and Thomas insisted that he was to blame, 
and claimed that he should receive all the punishment ; but the 
teacher punished them both. Thomas bore his own without any 
trouble, but he cried most bitterly when the pretty girl he fancied 
so much was punished too. Forty-five years after this little cir- 
cumstance, he met an elderly lady, who recognized him, and re- 
minded him of the incident — she was the pretty girl of his youth. 

When he was about eighteen years of age, his father moved 
to Cincinnati Ohio, where he arrived on the last day of October, 
1810. Cincinnati was then a very small place, and Thomas has 
frequently shot ducks in ponds, which were standing where Third 
street now is. In this new country Thomas was set at work. He 
hauled wood to market in the town, and made himself generally 
useful. After hauling wood two miles he could sell it for fifty 
cents per cord ! This occupation he followed during the winter 
of 1810-11. In the spring of 1811 the family moved up the Ohio 
River, ten miles from Cincinnati, where he remained nearly three 
years. It was in the fall of 1811 that Thomas Karr first saw a 
steamboat. It slowly moved up the Ohio River, about as fast as 
a boy could walk, and Mr. Karr could only express his astonish- 
ment by following it for three or four miles and throwing stones 
at it! During the following year (1812) war was declared with 
England. During this war all men were enrolled, and those of 
the military age, were put on a muster-roll and were liable to 
draft. They were afterwards divided into classes and graded, and 
one class was exhausted before another was taken. Men did not 
volunteer, but were drafted. Dr. Karr was drafted twice, and 
once he volunteered for a special expedition. But he was not at 
any time in actual service, as the occasions for which the drafts 
were made passed without requiring troops. 

While living in Hamilton County, the only place to ship pro- 
duce was at General Harrison's Landing on the Ohio River, from 



816 OLD SETTLERS OF 

whence it was taken away on flatboats. General Harrison, who 
lived there at the time, was a man about six feet in height, and 
rather slim built. His eye was Aery bright and expressive, and 
whoever once saw him never forgot him. He was the son-in-law 
of Jutlge Simms, the early proprietor of Hamilton County. The 
land in this county was granted to Judge Simms by patent from 
the government in the year 1800 or thereabouts. The patent 
covered all the land from the mouth of the Big Miami River to 
the mouth of the Little Miami, and extended twelve miles into 
the interior, and was given on the condition that Judge Simms 
should cause a large number of settlers to make their homes 
there. 

In the year 1814, or about that time, the Karr family moved 
to North Bend in "Whitewater township, where General Harrison 
lived. Here it was that Thomas was married ; but his lovely 
bride was not the pretty girl of his youth, in whose company he 
had been punished for upsetting the bucket of water. These 
little school boy romances are short lived. He married a charm- 
ing young widow lady, named Elizabeth Kitchell. He has 
had a family of five children, but they are now all dead except 
one. 

In 1833 Br. Thomas Karr bought land at Randolph's Grove, 
McLean County, Illinois, at $1.25 per acre, and in 1835 he came 
on with his family to occupy it. He arrived on the last day of 
October, and had at the time neither rail nor clapboard. He 
lived for two weeks after his arrival with two other families, con- 
taining in all eighteen persons, in a room sixteen feet square. 
But at the end of two weeks he had built a log hut in the woods 
and occupied it immediately, and felt rich ! The family lived in 
this little cabin for about two years and a half, when Dr. Karr 
was enabled to build a frame house of more respectable appear- 
ance. 

In 1843 Dr. Karr was the assessor of McLean County, and 
did his work in fifty-five days, for which he received two hundred 
dollars. 

Dr. Karr was in the early days a Democrat, but when his old 
acquaintance, General Harrison, was a candidate for the presi- 
dency, Dr. Karr was obliged to split his ticket and give the gen- 
eral a vote. The political parties prepared for this campaign 



m'lean county. 817 

very early. Dr. Karr says that in January, 1840, the winter pre- 
ceding the campaign, he saw a parly of men in the timber viewing 
the trees. They were Looking and pointing first at one large tree 
and then at another, and finally they selected one, out of which 
they made a canoe, which was an emblem of the Whig party. 
This canoe, as our old settlers will nearly all remember, was 
taken to the various Whig gatherings during the following sum- 
mer, and created quite a sensation. 

Dr. Karr is about five feet and eight inches in height, is rather 
heavy set, and his face is red and full. He is now nearly eighty 
years of age, but no one would think him over sixty. He is 
pleasant, talkative, and, above all things, jolly. He enjoys the 
world very much, and although he has now obtained a great age, 
he will live yet many years. 

Dr. Karr was twice married. He first married, December 31, 
1814, Elizabeth Kitchell, a widow, and had five children, of whom 
only one is living. They are : 

Mrs. Eleanor Hopping, wife of Edward Hopping, born Octo- 
ber 7, 1815. She and her husband both died in McLean County 
at Randolph's Grove. 

Martha Ann, wife of James Hodson, born ^sTovember 2, 1817. 
She and her husband both died at Randolph's Grove. 

Thomas Jefferson Karr, born February 10, 1821, died at 
Blooming Grove. 

William Karr, born January 5, 1823, lives with his father at 
Randolph's Grove. 

Elizabeth, wife of Captain Scoggin, of Blooming Grove, was 
born August 4, 1825. She died shortly after her marriage. 

Aaron Kitchell, of Bloomington, is a son of Mrs. Karr by her 
first marriage. 

Dr. Karr married Mrs. Martha Evans, of Ebensburg, Penn- 
sylvania. Her maiden name was Martha Edwards* She was a 
sister of Dr. Karr's first wife. Mrs. Karr was born December 
18, 1802, in Llambrynmire, Wales. She is a very kind lady, and 
loves to entertain her friends in English style. 

William Karr. 

William Karr was born January 5, 1823, in Whitewater 
township, Hamilton County, Ohio. He was educated partly in 
52 



818 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Ohio and partly in Illinois. He was rather a precocious scholar 
and learned his lessons easily. In Ohio he went to a schoolmas- 
ter named Dow, who occasionally took his dram. Mr. Dow 
sometimes felt the effect of spirits in the schoolroom, and once 
in a while fell asleep. At one time when he went to sleep all of 
his scholars left the schoolroom and went home without shutting 
the school-house door. A flock of sheep, which was "grazing near 
by, went into the school-house, and when the master awoke from 
his slumber he was astonished at the character and appearance of 
his pupils. This incident made the schoolmaster wiser, and he 
never again fell asleep in school. "When William Karr was 
eight or nine years of age, he suffered extremely from rheuma- 
tism, but being anxious to continue his studies he was taken to 
school on a gentle horse, by his brother Jefferson. He studied 
while lying down on two chairs. In October, 1835, the Karr 
family came to Illinois, as stated in the preceding sketch of his 
father. At Randolph's Grove William Karr, when only twelve 
years of age, went to school to Mr. Evans, a good old man, for a 
few days ; but the schoolmaster said that "William was too far 
advanced for him, and that ended his schooling with Mr. Evans. 
William Karr continued his education under other teachers, and 
made good progress. One of his old schoolmasters, Mr. Bur- 
rows, is still living at Young's place in Randolph's Grove. 

William Karr married, December 24, 1844, Miss Mary Jane 
Elder, a daughter of David and Hannah Elder. She came from 
Whitewater township, Hamilton County, Ohio, where Mr. Karr 
was born. She came with her father's family to Randolph's 
Grove, October 13, 1842. On the day after their marriage, Eliza- 
beth Karr, William's sister, w^as married to Captain Scoggin, of 
Blooming Grove. This was December 25th. On the 26th of the 
same month they were given a grand dinner by Squire Campbell 
Wakefield, who had married William Karr and Mary Jane Elder. 
Squire Wakefield is Mrs. William Karr's uncle. 

Mr. and Mrs. Karr have had eight children, six of whom are 
living, four sons and two daughters. The first child in infancy. 

Anstis Karr was born January 30, 1850, is married to Richard 
M. Jones, and lives in Bloomington. 

Iris Karr, born March 6, 1852. 

John Karr, born May 8, 1856. 



m'lean county. 819 

Joseph Wakefield Karr, born July 1, 1859, and William El- 
der Karr, born January 31, 1869, all live at home. 

Thomas D. Karr, born January 16, 1802, died September 12, 
1864. 

William Karr is about five feet and nine and one-half inches 
in height, is a very active man, and has not been sick during the 
last twenty-five years. His hair is thick on his head, but turning 
slightly gray. His eyes are light gray, like his father's. His 
family and his father's live in the same house, and it would be 
hard to find in McLean County a family whose familiar inter- 
course is marked by such consideration and delicacy of feeling. 
It is the lady who makes the household. It is said that a mem- 
ber of the Japanese government once called on the United States 
Minister, Mr. Delong, and, observing the fine taste displayed at 
the home of the American, inquired the reason. Mr. Delong 
said : "It is because a lady presides over the household." This, 
perhaps, goes far to explain the happy life and pleasant feeling in 
Mr. Karr's family. 

George Martin. 

George Martin was born January 13, 1802, in Franklin 
County, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Martin, and his 
mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Thompson, were both 
born in County Down, Ireland, and emigrated to the United 
States at an early day. In 1802, when George was an infant, his 
parents moved from Pennsylvania to Mason County, Kentucky, 
and remained there until 1813, when they moved to Whitewater 
township, Hamilton County, Ohio. He does not remember much 
of the war of 1812. His brother went into the army as a volun- 
teer. His father lived for a long time in a little log cabin in the 
woods, and George had a fine opportunity to study nature at his 
leisure. In 1830, he married Susannah Harvey. In the latter 
part of October, 1835, he came to McLean County, Illinois, with 
Campbell Wakefield. He has lived here ever since. He has 
usually followed farming, and rented land of Mr. Wakefield. 
He has lived a happy and contented life, has engaged in all the 
sports of the early settlers, and has been to every wolf and deer 
hunt in the neighborhood. 

George Martin is a little more than six feet in height; his 



820 OLD SETTLERS OF 

hair is gray with age. He is an honest, faithful, hard working 
man. He has a very pleasant, honest expression on his coun- 
tenance, and no doubt observes the golden rule to do as he would 
be done by. 

George Martin has had six children in his family, one of 
whom is dead. 

They are : 

Zebulon Alonzo, a stepson, Joseph T., James N"., Margaret M. 
J. and Andrew C. W. Martin. 



TOWAKDA. 

Jesse Walden. 

Jesse Walden was born February 12, 1808, in Woodford 
County, Kentucky. His father, Elijah Walden, was American 
born, but of English descent, and his mother, whose maiden 
name was Sally Walker, was born in Hanover County, Virginia, 
but was of Welch descent. 

When Jesse Walden was five or six years of age, the family 
moved to Clark County, Indiana, near Charlestown, and there 
remained until they came to Illinois. Mr. Walden, sr., was a 
very religious man and a member of the Methodist Church, and 
his brother was a Methodist preacher. Jesse was therefore very 
carefully and very religiously reared. This, however, did not 
prevent the growth of boyish vanity. When he became old 
enough to own a handkerchief and some store clothes he thought 
himself of great consequence in the universe of God. He and 
a friend, while looking very pretty in their new garments, 
crossed a creek near by in a perogue (large canoe,) and on their 
return jumped into the water to prevent themselves from going 
over the dam. The store clothes had to suffer. 

On the 28th of July, 1828, Jesse Walden married Elizabeth 
Pike, in Casey County, on the Green Brier Ridges, and in the 
fall of 1828, he started to Illinois. When he arrived in San- 
gamon County, about eight miles east of Springfield, he had but 
seven dollars in his pocket. He spent half of this for cooking 
utensils, and half to put his gun in order for the purpose of 
killing prairie chickens, turkeys and wild hogs. It is interest- 



m'lean county. 821 

ing to know how a man under such circumstances could manage. 
He first helped a neighbor build a house, for which service he 
received a wagon ; then he built a log house for himself, except 
the roof; then he traded his wagon and a bureau, which he had 
brought with him, for a claim on which was a cabin and twelve 
acres of improved land. This he rented to a new comer for 
twelve bushels of corn per acre. He sold the logs for the house 
on his own improvement, and rented a place and a team to work 
it, paying one-half of the crop as rent, and thus became fairly 
started. Such was the ingenuity of a man who began with 
almost nothing. lie raised a crop and sold his half in the field 
for three head of cattle, sold his improved claim for a horse and 
a milch cow, and moved to Blooming Grove. This was in 1829. 

Here he lived, near his uncle William Walker's, until after 
the deep snow. 

Iu the spring of 1831, Mr. Walden moved to the southern 
edge of Money Creek timber to a farm rented of Jacob Spawr, 
and there remained for three years. Mr. Walden speaks par- 
ticularly of the frights occasioned during the Black Hawk war, 
and especially the scare at the close, when the rangers returned 
and fired off their guns in the timber. 

Mr. Walden moved from Jacob Spawr's place to the north- 
east side of Money Creek, where Jesse Trimmer lives. In 1834, 
while hunting with a party in the Mackinaw barrens, and while 
in camp there at night, they saw the falling of the meteors and 
almost concluded that the day of judgment had come. 

He lived on his claim, near the present Trimmer place, for 
three years, then three years in Mackinaw timber, then three 
years at liandolph's Grove, and then moved to Smith's Grove, 
about three miles from the present village of Towanda, and 
there he has lived ever since. The great sudden change in the 
weather took place in December, 1836, while Mr. Walden lived 
at Mackinaw timber. He was about a mile and a-half from 
home, but jumped on his horse and started on the full ruu, the 
intense cold freezing the slush as he traveled. As he passed a 
slough near his house he saw a lot of pigs belonging to his 
neighbor Bartholomew, frozen fast in it. When he arrived 
home, he could scarcely pull ott" his overcoat as it was frozen 
fast. Mr. Bartholomew was obliged to chop his pigs loose from 



822 OLD SETTLEKS OF 

the ice to get them out. During this sudden change, William 
Walden, the brother of Jesse, came across the prairie on foot, 
and the water plashed on his trousers and froze on them so 
rapidly that he was obliged to cut off his pantaloons below the 
knee in order to travel. He was driving an ox-team and had a 
friend with him who wished to resign himself to fate and die, 
but "William pitched the man into the wagon and brought him 
home. 

Jesse Walden succeeded well and accumulated some prop- 
erty ; but about four years ago he lost his health, and his finan- 
cial matters also suffered, but he still in good circumstances. 

Mrs. Walden died August 10, 1867. She was a good woman, 
and to her Mr. Walden no doubt owes in a great measure the 
success he has met with in life. Ten children were born of this 
marriage. They are : 

John Walden, born August 9, 1828, in Indiana, and brought 
to Illinois when only seven weeks old. He is a mechanic, and 
lives one mile south of Bloomington. 

William Louis Walden, born March 24, 1830, was a soldier 
in the army during the rebellion. He died in March, 1869, at 
Pleasant Hill. 

James Walden died in early youth. 

George Wesley Walden, born September 16, 1834, lives at 
Chenoa. 

Jesse Wallace Walden, born September 10, 1836, is a farmer, 
and lives five or six miles northeast of Lexington. 

Martha Elizabeth died in infancy. 

Archy Walden was a soldier in the army. He enlisted at the 
outbreak of the war in the First Illinois Cavalry, in the company 
commanded by Captain (afterwards General) McNulta. He lives 
near his father's on the homestead place. 

Henry Walden, born June 5, 1842, lives in Blue Mound 
township. 

Sarah Jane, wife of John Kerr, lives near her father's on the 
homestead place. 

Albert Walden, born July 13, 1851, is a farmer and lives on 
the Mackinaw in Gridley township. 

Jesse Walden married January 14, 1869, Mrs. Sarah Mc- 
Corkle. She is a woman of tact and fine sense and enjoys her- 



m'lean county. 823 

self in polite society. "Sir. Walden is about five feet and a-half 
in height, but appears somewhat taller. He has been somewhat 
heavy, weighing one hundred and ninety pounds. He is rather 
slow of speech, his eyes are small but expressive, and his nose is 
somewhat prominent. He is very humorous and likes to plague 
people, particularly young ladies, in a good natured way. He is 
a very companionable man, and one of the best known among 
the early settlers. 

WHITE OAK. 

John Benson, Sr. 

John Benson was born in York County, Pennsylvania, March 
1, 1778. He was the eldest of ten children, two only of whom 
are now living. His father was born in Derry County, Ireland, 
and his mother, whose maiden name was Mollie Taylor, was born 
in York County, Pennsylvania. Her parents bad emigrated from 
Ireland at an early day. His father, James Benson, was a private 
soldier in the Continental army, and fought gallantly for Ameri- 
can independence. He was taken prisoner at Fort Washington, 
Col. Magraw commanding, and was confined for a long time on 
board of a prison-ship, at Philadelphia. James Benson was a 
farmer, but being anxious to better his condition, he removed to 
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, when young John was only 
three years of age. In 1785, he moved to McClellan's Station, 
Bourbon County, Kentucky. At this place John received all of 
his schooling, which was none too much. He was taught to spell 
by an old bachelor Englishman, out of Dillworth's spelling-book. 
At the age of twelve his education was finished, and although it 
was not very much, it was not by any means to be despised in 
those days. Those were pioneer days in Kentucky. James 
Benson hauled the logs to build the first house in Paris, Bour- 
bon County. In 1795, James Benson removed his family to 
John Mills Station, (now Millersburg,) Nicholas County, Ken- 
tucky, where he died. On the sixth of October, 1803, John 
Benson married Sallie Music, at the residence of Colonel Robert 
Berry. He at once removed to near Stirling, Montgomery Coun- 
ty, where he was engaged in the tanning business. Three years 
after this he removed to Gibson County, Indiana. 



824 OLD SETTLERS OF 

John Benson was a soldier in the war of 1812, and fought at 
Tippecanoe under General Harrison. He says that the Indians 
had heen committing some depredations when Harrison was sent 
to Tippecanoe with orders not to fight unless it was necessary. 
The Indians were found drawn up in line of battle, but they sig- 
nified their willingness to make peace. The whites asked for a 
place to camp, and the Indians showed them a position which 
seemed very poor for defence in case of an attack, and a better 
locality was chosen. Some of the Indian^ followed the whites, 
and asked if they had any cannon, and when told "yes," said 
they knew better. The whites confined a man whom they thought 
to be a spy, until the battle was over. They lay on their arms 
that night, and were furiously attacked by Indians in the morn- 
ing at about two hours before daybreak. The Indians made four 
separate attacks, and drove the whites back to their horses, but 
could drive them no farther. The Indians retreated just at day- 
break, but the whites considered themselves about half whipped. 
The battle lasted two hours and five minutes by the watch. 

Mr. Benson remained in Gibson County, Indiana, until 1820, 
when he removed to that part of the county of Sangamon, which 
now forms Logan County, Illinois. He arrived jSTovember 6th, 
with his brother-in-law, Asa Music. Here he rented a cabin and 
went to work. He cultivated a garden with ox'es shoes ! We 
have heard of a great many kinds of agricultural implements, but 
this is the first time we ever heard of ox'es shoes being put to 
such novel service. The crops were fine, and everything would 
have been satisfactory had it not been for the fever and ague. 
The little settlement there consisted of three families only, and 
the loss of Mr. Benson's daughter Polly, a young lady between 
seventeen and eighteen years of age, cast a shadow over them all. 
But the settlers seemed contented with their lot ; the game fur- 
nished meat, and the groves furnished honey. Mr. Benson had 
some experience as a peddler. He peddled all over Illinois, flax- 
wheels, which he took on a debt from his brother William. 

Mr. Benson states a curious circumstance about the domesti- 
cation of the hog. The year before he removed to Illinois, he 
came out to the State with his brother-in-law and brought a load 
of hogs. The}' lost some on the wa}*, and those that were taken 
through to Illinois became in one year so wild that they had to 



m'lean county. 825 

be shot to be saved. If he had not shot them, probably he would 
have had no more claim on them than on the wild deer. In 1823 
he removed to Blooming Grove and entered the farmnow owned 
by Andrew Scoggin. He was preceded a year or more by John 
Dawson and John Hendrix. Thomas Orendorff came during 
the spring of that year. They assisted Mr. Benson in raising 
his cabin. 

Mr. Benson has a lively recollection of the Indians. Old 
Machina, the chief of the Kickapoos, often sang lullabys to his 
children. "With the Indians the culinary art is still in its infancy. 
On one occasion old Machina came to Mr. Benson's house with 
a deer which he had killed, and borrowed a kettle to cook a part 
of it. He cut off the head and boiled it for a short time, and 
then made a broth by mixing in some meal. It was a mixture 
which no one but an Indian could eat, and Mr. Benson, jr., says 
he could not eat broth for twenty years afterwards, because of the 
recollection of that Indian mixture. 

Mr. Benson was a live farmer. Agricultural implements were 
not easy to obtain in those primitive days, and he had some diffi- 
culty in getting a plow. But he finally had one made by Mr. 
McKnight, of Elkhart Grove ; the iron work was done by Mr. 
White. The mouldboard and shear of the plow were all in one 
piece. It would be quite a curiosity now. The team which drew 
the plow would also be a curiosity. It consisted of two small 
horses and two small steers. The horses took the lead, while the 
steers were attached directly to the plow. With this queer ar- 
rangement he broke thirteen acres of prairie during the first 
year. 

John Benson, sr., taught school two winters in Blooming 
Grove. He taught one session of three months and one of six 
months, on the south side of the grove, about a mile east of Cap- 
tain Scoggin's place. He thinks he was the first teacher at the 
grove. Another man, Dr. Trabue, taught at the same time on 
the east side of the grove. 

In September, 1828, was held the first protracted meeting at 
the house of Ebenezer Rhodes. The services were conducted by 
Mr. Pankas, from Loudon County, Virginia, assisted by Mr. 
John Green, of Morgan County, Illinois ; both were New Light 
preachers. The meeting was attended by the settlers from far 



826 OLD SETTLERS OF 

and near. Mrs. Benson, young James Benson, and four others, 
joined the church, and an organization was formed which met 
alternately at Mr. Benson's and at Mr. Josiah Brown's, of Dry 
Grove. Ebenezer Rhodes was their pastor for many years, as- 
sisted by Mr. James Scott, of Kickapoo. 

The early settlers paid very little attention to literature. All 
of their exertions were required in getting a start in the world. 
Mr. Benson's library consisted of a bible, a testament, a life of 
"Washington, and McCarty's history of the late war. 

In the spring of 1825 there occurred an event in McLean 
County in which ladies will be particularly interested. It was a 
wedding, the first which had ever been celebrated in the county 
where white people were the parties. We have no doubt that 
often before this the Indian lover had won his dusky maiden and 
celebrated the happy event in his own peculiar manner ; but 
never before had there been here a genuine white man's wedding. 
The parties were Thomas Orendorff and Melinda Walker. We 
have no particulars with regard to the affair. Jenkins was not 
there to describe the dresses worn and comment on the appear- 
ance of the bride. We have no doubt she appeared charming 
enough. Ladies always do ; they seem to understand such 
matters. 

In the early days the incidents which now would impress us 
so little seemed to the pioneers to be great events. Mr. Benson 
remembers what an import element of commerce beeswax was, 
as it was gathered from the bee-trees in the groves. 

Mr. Benson and his son assisted James Allin in raising his 
double log cabin, the first house built on the original site of 
Bloomington. Mr. Allin first intended to use Mr. Benson's 
house as a store, but was dissuaded from this because some of 
the neighbors did not like it, as Mr. Benson was a Whig. Mr. 
Benson has a lively recollection of the winter of the deep snow, 
in 1830-1, and thinks that on account of the deep snow the 
farmers of McLean County have never been able to make fall 
wheat yield a fair return. 

On the fourteenth of November, 1841, the wife of Mr. Ben- 
son died at Blooming Grove, and as his sons had moved to 
White Oak, he also removed thither. On the twenty-third of 
May, 1842, he married Elizabeth Waldron, of Bowling Green, 
Illinois, who died in August, 1871. 



m'lean county. 827 

Mr. Benson was treasurer of Tazewell County in 1827. He 
was very quick with his pen, and a correct speller, and these 
were considered great accomplishments in early days. He was 
treasurer for only one year, and assessor as well. 

Mr. Benson now lives with his son John at White Oak, sur- 
rounded by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, 
numbering one hundred and fifteen persons. His three sons 
now living, John, James and William, are old, gray-headed men, 
surrounded by their children and grandchildren. They might 
form a community by themselves, as they live on adjoining 
farms. The old gentleman was ninety-sixyears of age in March, 
1874, the oldest man in the county. In manner he is pleasing 
and affable, though somewhat dignified. He is about five feet 
and four inches in height, and his form is somewhat bowed with 
age. In other days he was five feet and six and one-half inches 
in height. His form is not heavy, on the contrary, a little thin. 
His hair is now very white, as might be expected ; his features 
are clearly defined and regular. In dress Mr. Benson was al- 
ways plain ; he never wore boots until he was sixty years of age. 
He formerly wore the garb so common with the pioneers, a wolf 
skin cap, a hunting shirt and buckskin breeches. In fall and 
winter he wore moccasins, but in summer he went barefooted, 
and frequently used his bare feet to stamp out the prairie fire. 
He lost his eyesight when forty-one years of age, and regained 
it when sixty-five. He was always remarkable for his intrepidity 
and his adventurous spirit. He is still in good health, and often 
walks two or three miles in a day. 

John Benson, Jr. 

John Benson, jr., was born October 12, 1807, in Gibson 
County, Indiana. He lived there until he was twelve years old, 
and then went with the Benson family to Illinois, to that part of 
Sangamon County which now forms the county of Logan. In 
1823 the family moved to Blooming Grove, to the place now oc- 
cupied by Andrew W. Scoggin. Old Mr. Benson and his sons 
James; Jesse and John, had made an improvement at Bloom- 
ing Grove, and John Benson, jr., returned with his father and 
brought up the family. They had a hard time at first, as they 
were obliged to pay a dollar a bushel for corn, and earn the 
money by splitting rails for fifty cents per hundred. 



828 OLD SETTLERS OF 

John Benson, jr., was a great bee hunter. The first bee tree 
he found was on Salt Creek, and out of it he obtained three sral- 
Ions of honey. On the day following he found a tree, out of 
which he took six gallons of honey and eight pounds of bees- 
wax, and after that he found many trees and much honey. In a 
single limb of a tree he at one time found two swarms of bees. 
He frequently went to the Vermilion River towards Pontiac and 
brought home a barrel of honey for his pains. 

Mr. Benson often had wolf chases, which furnished great 
amusement. At one time when he and Thomas Orendorif were 
near Major's Grove, a wolf appeared near by, sitting on the 
ground and looking at them impudently. Mr. Benson ran after 
it and struck it down with an ear of corn, and Orendorff fol- 
lowed and killed it. 

When Mr. Benson was twenty-one years of age, he started 
with the Funks to drive pigs to Galena. He stopped in Peoria 
about two weeks, and while there witnessed a little misunder- 
standing, which sprang up between a Dutchman and a negro, 
and was settled in the way in which too many such matters were 
attended to in those days. They fought it out. The Dutchman 
threw the negro down, but unfortunately allowed his thumb to 
be inserted in the negro's mouth. Some of the bystanders called 
out, "Let's part them." "No," said another, " let them fight it 
out ; one's a Dutchman and the other's a nigger !" But the par- 
ties to the misunderstanding thought they had done enough for 
the amusement of the crowd, and stopped. 

The Funks had a hard time in moving their pigs, which 
broke through the ice in the Illinois River. Jacob and Jesse 
Funk went after them waist deep in water ; but notwithstanding 
all their exertions, two of the pigs were drowned. A heavy fall 
of snow made it difficult to travel, and a wagon going before 
made a track for the pigs to walk. When the party came to the 
head of Crow Creek the weather was intensely cold, and all but 
one of the party was frost-bitten. Here old John Dixon lived. 
He was the pioneer who afterwards moved to Rock River. By 
this time Mr. Benson found that he had enough of it, and re- 
turned to Blooming Grove, while the remainder of the party 
went on to Galena. 

Mr. Benson sent eleven hogs with the " bunch," that was 
taken to Chicago, when all of the farmers clubbed together. 



m'lean county. 829 

They stopped at Big Sulphur Springs for several weeks, on ac- 
count of a sleet storm, which made it impossible to travel. The 
cold was intense, and the men in charge of the swine were ob- 
liged to stand guard to prevent the pigs from piling one on top 
of another, and crushing those beneath them to death. 

Mr. Benson remembers some queer incidents of old days. One 
strange genius, called Jake, liked to exaggerate very much, in 
order to make his entertaining stories better appreciated. Once, 
while a number of hands were working in a field, Jake was sent 
for water, and during his absence one of them killed a prairie 
rattlesnake, and they resolved to tell some big snake stories 
when Jake came back, in order to draw him out. On his return, 
one of the party told of the mountain rattlesnakes of Tennessee. 
Jake roused up and said that when he lived in Ohio, the people 
were troubled by an enormous snake which they could not kill 
or catch. At last they drove an ox to the hole of the serpent, 
which immediately swallowed up the "critter" alive. This 
made the snake so sluggish that people came up with their rifles 
and shot it again and again until they killed it. This story was 
not disputed. Jake once told of a large turkey which came into 
his field, while he was harvesting, and troubled him by eating 
his grain. He killed it, and it was so large that when its neck 
was stragihtened over his shoulders its feet dragged in the snow. 
This story also remained undisputed, though the idea of snow in 
harvest seemed rather queer. 

Mr. Benson was in the Black Hawk war, in 1832, having en- 
listed in Captain McClure's company. They elected their 
officers at Pekin,and proceeded from there to Peoria and thence 
on to Dixon's Ferry. On the morning after Stillman's Run, Mr. 
Benson went up with the army to the scene of the disaster, and 
helped to bury the dead. The evening of that day in spring 
time he stood picket without fire or blanket, and was wakeful 
enough, as may be supposed. Among the funny stories told of 
Stillman's Run, is one relating to a man named Vesey. A short 
time before the fight occurred, a lot of whisky was distributed 
among the soldiers, and they seemed to think as much of this 
enticing beverage as of their lives. Mr. Vesey carried his whisky 
in a coffee-pot, which he handled most tenderly. At one time 
when he found a chance to give the Indians a shot he dismounted, 



830 OLD SETTLERS OF 

put down his coffee-pot carefully, fired at the Indians, picked up 
his coffee-pot tenderly, remounted his horse and rode away. 
The army returned to Dixon's Ferry, and three companies went 
from there to Ottawa. The day after their arrival at the latter 
place Captain McClure's company and a few other volunteers 
went up to Indian Creek and buried the murdered families 
of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew, which had been previously buried 
in a shallow grave by the house. After building a fort at Otta- 
wa, the soldiers were mustered out of service. 

Mr. Benson has since lived happily at White Oak Grove, 
where he still resides, without any other remarkable adventure. 
His domestic life has been very pleasant. In 1830 he married 
Penina Hinshaw, with whom he has lived most happily ever 
since. He has had twelve children, of whom nine are living. 
They are : 

Mrs. Mary M. Arnold, wife of J. W. Arnold, lives at Eureka 
in Woodford County. 

Robert Music Benson was a soldier in the Thirty-third Illi- 
nois Volunteers. He was wounded in the face at Vicksburg. 
He now lives in Bloomington. 

Phillip Young Benson was also in the Thirty-third Illinois. 
He lives now about four miles east of his father's. 

Mrs. Penina Ann Conger, wife of John D. Conger, lives at 
Eldora, Hardin County, Iowa. 

Mrs. Sarah Brown, wife of Wiley Brown, lives in Bloom- 
ington. 

Mrs. Lydia Ellen Smith, wife of Frank Smith, lived at El- 
dora, Hardin County, Iowa. She died July 9, 1873. 

Miss Addie Benson lives at her father's house. 

Mrs. Lucy F. Smales, wife of Charles H. Smales, lives in 
Hancock County, Illinois. 

Emmett Lee Benson lives at home. 

Mr. Benson is five feet and five inches in height, is quite bald, 
is very healthy, has small, humorous eyes, is strong, active and 
industrious, loves fun, and indeed no one appreciates a joke bet- 
ter than he. He remembere clearly and distinctly the events of 
the past, and his intellect is not impaired by age. He sings to 
his grandchildren the song he learned of the Indian chief of the 
Kickapoos, Machina. It was not much of a song, and was 



m'lean county. 831 

hummed in a monotonous way by Machina to the little white 
pappooses, who sat on his knee. It ran ; " Ile-o, he-o, me-yok-o- 
nee, me-yok-o-nee," continually repeated. Mr. Benson has a 
peculiarly pleasing and cheerful expression of countenance, and 
has hardly an enemy in the world. 

James Benson. 

James Benson was born October 26, 1805, in Montgomery 
County, Kentucky. When he was only fifteen months old, the 
Benson family moved to Indiana, to that part of Knox County, 
which is now Gibson County, where they remained until 1820. 
In that year they moved to Illinois, to that part of Sangamon 
County which now forms the County of Logan, and there went 
to farming. 

In January, 1821, James Benson went on a bee hunt to Salt 
Creek, and found what would be considered by bee hunters a 
great curiosity. It was a tree absolutely deserted by bees, but 
containing more than three gallons of candied honey. During 
the following March, he went to Kickapoo Creek on a bee hunt 
with a man named Campbell and another. Campbell found the 
first three trees and seemed to be in luck, but Benson followed 
up the matter well, and found a linn tree with a hollow contain- 
ing a gallon of honey, and then a white oak containing ten gal- 
lons. Large flakes of honey, two feet broad, were taken out. 
He found next a black walnut tree which had been stripped of 
its bark by Indians who wished to make wigwams. When the 
tree died, it shrank, and various weather checks appeared, and 
through them the bees went to the hollow within and filled it 
with honey. The hunters took out of it seven or eight gallons 
of honey. The next tree was a burr oak with a hollow about 
thirty feet from the ground, and out of this they took eight or 
nine gallons. 

Sangamon County was then a very unhealthy section of coun- 
try and in the spring of 1823, the Benson family moved to Bloom- 
ing Grove. James and Jesse cut and hauled house logs for ten 
days before the family came. They were visited by Severe 
Stringfield and Gardner Randolph from Randolph's Grove. On 
the last of May, the Benson family came on. They first moved 
into a linn bark camp, which had three sides closed up and the 



832 OLD SETTLERS OF 

fourth side open. The floor and roof were linn bark. That 
summer the family raised very little grain, and during the fol- 
lowing winter many of their cattle died. They were subjected 
to many inconveniences. James was obliged to go thirty-five 
miles on horseback to the lower end of Lake Fork to get his 
plow sharpened. He crossed the Kickapoo by hanging to his 
horse as it swam over, and then going back with a canoe for his 
plow. Mr. Benson married, November 6, 1828, Polly Ann 
Hinshaw, who was born in Overton County, Tennessee, and had 
lately come to Blooming Grove. Then he went to Harley's 
Grove and improved a place, sold his improvement, and in 1831 
moved to White Oak Grove. Here he and his brother John 
built a cabin and broke ground. During the following spring, 
they volunteered in Captain McClure's company, and went to 
the Black Hawk war. They went up to Dixon's Ferry and were 
mustered into the regular service. The famous defeat of Major 
Stillman's battalion occurred on the evening of the day after their 
arrival. In the middle of the night, Mr. Benson was awakened 
from his sleep by a voice calling "halloo!" On answering, he 
was told that Stillman's men were all killed, that the Indians 
had crawled on them and said "woo, woo," and butchered them 
all in their camp ! During the following morning, Captain Eades, 
of Peoria, who had been in the " Run" and lost his hat, came 
around the camp with a handkerchief tied to his head and his 
sword at his side. He tried to collect his men, but they were 
badly scattered, and he could find but few. The greater part of 
the troops went up on the battle ground. Nearly all were 
mounted, but a few out of each company were dismounted, and 
these formed a company by themselves. After marching to the 
scene of the fight, about thirty-five miles above Dixon, and bury- 
ing the dead, the men returned. Shortly afterwards, three com- 
panies, one of which was Captain McClure's, were sent to 
Ottawa, and on their arrival were ordered to Indian Creek, to 
bury the families of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew, which had been 
murdered by the Indians immediately after the fight of Still- 
man's Run. They found these families buried on the outside of 
the house near the chimney. But they were only lightly covered 
with earth and were taken up and reburied in a trench. The 
two boys, who escaped and who, he thinks, belonged to the Hall 



m'lean county. 833 

family, were able to identify the dead, and by their assistance the 
bodies were separated and those of each family buried together. 
Shortly afterwards the volunteers were discharged. 

Mr. Benson has made the usual trips to Chicago. He hauled 
wheat and drove hogs there, and sold them for prices which 
would not now be considered worth the trouble of the journey. 
At Peoria, pork brought $1.25 to $1.50, provided the larger part 
of the pay was taken in goods. Vinton Carlock succeeded in 
getting $1.00 per hundred in cash. 

Mr. Benson has had fourteen children, of whom eleven are 
living. They are : 

William Benson, who lives east of Lexington. 

Mrs. Elizabeth D. Knight, wife of Moses H. Knight, who 
lives in Cropsy township. 

Mrs. Nancy Gilstrap, wife of Henry Gilstrap, lives in Cow- 
lick, Kansas. 

Cyrus H. Benson, lives in Lawndale township. 

Mrs. Sarah Jane Chisholm, wife of Jesse Chisholm, lives- 
about three and a-half miles east of her father's. 

Jesse M. Benson, lives in Lawndale township. 

Mrs. Susannah Arnold, wife of James C. Arnold, lives in 
Cropsy township. 

James P. Benson, lives in Lawndale township. 

Emily W., Edward C. and Horace M. Benson, live at the 
homestead in White Oak Grove. 

Mr. Benson is about five feet and six inches in height, is- 
squarely built and quite strong. His hair is perfectly white. He 
has a sanguine complexion and temperament, is a kind man and 
a gentleman of the strictest integrity. He has a cataract in his 
eye, which has been of great trouble to him and has nearly 
destroyed his sight. He has had several operations performed, 
and it is hoped that it will now improve and his sight be restored. 
He has a patient and hopeful disposition, and his affliction has 
not affected his kindness of manner. 

William Thomas Taylor Benson. 

William T. T. Benson was born October 12, 1811, in Gibson 
County, Indiana. At the age of nine years, he went with his 
father's family to what is now Logan County, Illinois. In the 
53 



834 OLD SETTLERS OF 

spring of 1823, the Benson family settled on the farm now occu- 
pied by Andrew W. Scoggin and there remained about thirteen 
years, after which they came to White Oak Grove. Mr. Benson 
married at Blooming Grove, September 25, 1834, Nancy Hin- 
shaw, a sister of George Hinshaw, jr. He built the first house 
on the prairie near White Oak Grove, about half a mile south 
of it. He sawed lumber wih a whip saw and it was the first, he 
thinks, that went into Bloomington. He helped to make the 
first brick that went into that town, in the brick yard of Peter 
Whipp, where George Hinshaw now lives. But as the clay 
proved to be poor, the yard was moved to the Big Branch. Mr. 
Benson sawed lumber for Colonel Gridley to build his store- 
house, but it was burned in kiln drying. Mr. Benson put up 
various buildings as he acquired property, and the country 
became developed in wealth and prosperity, and at present he 
has a fine, large house, with good outbuildings. He has had 
some experience with fires on the prairie, but only once suffered 
from them serious damage. This was at Blooming Grove. 

Mr. Benson has been very successful in life and acquired a 
fair competence. He raised an orphan boy whom he has treated 
as his own child in every respect, even in the division of his 
property. He gave to three of his children and to this boy, each 
ninety acres of land with stock and farming implements, on 
condition that they should each pay him three hundred dol- 
lars. He has acquired four hundred and thirty acres of land 
altogether. 

Mr. Benson has had five children, of whom three are living. 
They are : 

George Benson, lives at Champaign, in Champaign County, 
Illinois. 

Mrs. Susannah Lollis, wife of Mitchell W. Lollis, lives in the 
edge of White Oak Grove. 

Mrs. Melissa Hand Conger, wife of Robert Conger, lives in 
Lawndale township. 

Mr. Benson is five and one-half feet high, is rather squarely 
built, has a good head with a good development of intellect. 
His hair is almost entirely white, and his whiskers are silver. 
He wears spectacles, is a very pleasant man, is strictly honest in 
his dealings and friendly in his manner. He lives in the edge 



m'lean county. 


835 


dth the family of his daughter, 


Mrs. 


Elisha Dixon. 





of White Oak Grove with 
Susannah Lollis. 



Elisha Dixon was born June 14, 1809, near Komney, Hamp- 
shire County, Virginia, not far from the battle-ground of Win- 
chester, where General Shields whipped Stonewall Jackson. 
There are in that country many stone fences, and it was behind 
one of these that Jackson's army took refuge after its unsuccess- 
ful attack on that of Shields ; but the army of Shields followed 
up its advantage, and the troops of Jackson were flanked and 
driven from behind the stone wall and completely routed. Elisha 
Dixon's father was John Dixon, and his mother's maiden name 
was Drusilla Harvey. His father was of English, Irish and Scotch 
stock, and his mother was of German descent. He was a rela- 
tive of Jeremiah Dixon, who with Mason made the survey known 
as Mason and Dixon's line. John Dixon was a farmer and stock- 
raiser, was very honest and much respected. In 1815 the Dixon 
family came to Ohio, and settled on the Stillwater River in Har- 
rison County, near the town of Freeport. Here they saw many 
of the privations of frontier life. They were obliged to go fifty 
miles distant to buy frost-bitten corn, for which they had the 
privilege of paying seventy-five cents per bushel. About one- 
fourth of all the corn raised in that section of country was eaten 
up by squirrels. The instruction given in the schools was little 
enough, and only extended to reading and writing. In 1828, 
Elisha Dixon came to Dry Grove, in that part of Tazewell Coun- 
ty, Illinois, which now forms the county of McLean. Here he 
lived two years, with only one room to his little cabin. He visited 
Peoria, when it had only four houses. It had a store kept by a 
man named Bogardus, and very little else was to be seen. A part 
of the pickets were still standing around Fort Clark. Mackinaw- 
town was simply brush and woods ; it had the name of a town, 
but the town was not there. 

During the fall before the deep snow, Mr. Dixon's stacks were 
burned to the ground, and he was obliged to winter his stock on 
bran and boiled turnips. One of his pigs was caught under a 
drift of snow and lived six weeks without anything to eat. Mrs. 
Dixon also tells of a turkey that was under the snow during this 
winter and survived. 



836 OLD SETTLERS OF 

During the Black Hawk war, Mr. Dixon enlisted in Captain 
McClure's company, and was mustered into service at Pekin, in 
Tazewell County. They went on to Dixon's Ferry, and after the 
light of Stillman's Run went upon the ground and buried the 
dead. On their return to Dixon's Ferry four companies under 
Colonel Johnson were sent to Ottawa for the defence of that place. 
Captain McClure's company was then sent up to Indian Creek to 
bury the three families that had been murdered by the Indians 
there. After the burial of the bodies, they went back to Ottawa, 
and shortly afterwards were honorably discharged and returned 
home. 

After Mr. Dixon's return he went to farming on the place now 
owned by Charles Johnson, at White Oak Grove. He worked 
hard and succeeded in keeping the fire out of the grove, and now 
a fine growth of timber has come up, equal perhaps to any in 
McLean County. 

Mr. Dixon has taken great interest in schools, has done every- 
thing to help them along. In 1845 he w r as elected school treas- 
urer, and kept the office fourteen years. He used to draw money 
from John Price, who w T as school commissioner for the whole 
county. Mr. Dixon took the best of care of the school money, 
but it sometimes made him feel very uneasy, as two attemps were 
made to rob him. The care and anxiety after a while seemed to 
him greater than the honor, and he refused to hold the office 
longer. 

In June, 1872, Mr. Dixon was summoned on the grand jury 
of the United States District Court at Springfield. There he had 
a varied experience. He came across men who could talk. He 
first came in contact with a spiritualist, who w T as quite handy with 
his tongue. Mr. Dixon does not usually allow any one to get 
the start of him in talk, and when the spiritualist claimed to have 
seen signs and wonders, and to have looked on the face of the 
Almighty, Mr. Dixon called the gentleman's attention to the fact,, 
that when Moses went up the mountain and looked on the face 
of the Almighty, and returned to the children of Israel, his 
brother Aaron could not look on his face on account of its bright- 
ness; but the most careful scrutiny would fail to discover any 
such brilliancy on the face of the spiritualist, (except that pecu- 
liar brightness which comes from spirits of the " other kind.") 



m'lean county. 837 

While the grand jurymen were at Springfield, they had only 
seven cases before them ; but Mr. Dixon says they were receiving 
throe dollars per day, and wished to prolong their sitting by con- 
tinually adjourning, in order to continue drawing pay. Mr. 
Dixon was excused at his own request and came home. 

Mr. Dixon married in December, 1828, Mary Brown, of Dry 
Grove, who came from Overton County, Tennessee. He raise* 1 
a family of five children, but only two of these are living. They 
are : 

William Dixon, who lives at Minier, in Tazewell County. 

John F. Dixon teaches school in the neighborhood of Pontiac. 

Elisha Dixon is six feet and two inches in height, is heavily 
built, has a large and well-shaped head, covered with hair thick 
and white, has a pleasant smile, is kind to every one, and takes 
pleasure in talking to whoever calls on him. He has done fairly 
in life, and is disposed to be generous. Mr. Dixon can talk when 
he gets himself started. He can embellish matters and make 
them shine by the power of his imagination. When people talk 
to him, he can see the sharp corners and the inconsistencies of 
their conversation, and w r oe to the incautious man who makes 
wild statements in his presence. He takes a great interest in the 
events of other days and the doings of the early settlers. In 
religion he wishes it clearly understood that he is a degree man, 
and that he thinks the> planetary world is a type of the spiritual 
world. He thinks that men will be different in intellect in the 
world to come, and that no one will be kept back in order that 
another may catch up with him in intellectual or moral develop- 
ment. 

Smith Denman. 

Smith Denman was born September 6, 1799, in Essex County, 
!New Jersey. His father was Mathias Denman, and his mother's 
name before marriage was Rhoda Elston. Mr. Denman is, as far 
as he knows, of English descent. In 1804 the Denman family 
moved to Washington County, . Pennsylvania, where they re- 
mained two years, and then went to Licking County, Ohio. There 
they began farming. Smith Denman married, June 27, 1821, 
Elizabeth Dixon, and set up for himself in life by leasing land. 
By hard work he made money enough to come to Illinois, which 



838 OLD SETTLERS OF 

he did in September, 1829. He had a pleasant journey, and set- 
tled at White Oak Grove, McLean County, Illinois. He lived 
quite comfortably during the winter of the deep snow. He worked 
well and carefully, though he was not a large farmer. 

Mr. Denman has had eleven children, of whom four are living. 
They are : 

Jabez Harris Denman, who lives in Bolinger County, Mis- 
souri. 

Mrs. Drusilla Buck, wife of Daniel W. Buck, lives in Pales- 
tine township, Woodford County, Illinois. 

Smith Denman, jr., lives in Montgomery County, Illinois. 

Mrs. Mary Benson lives in McLean County, about ten miles 
east of Lexington. 

Mr. Denman is six feet in height, is slenderly built, is a pleas- 
ant, accommodating gentleman, and a straightforward, honest 
man. 

Abraham W. Carlock. 

Abraham W. Carlock was born April 7, 1800, in Hampshire 
County, West Virginia, near the west branch of the Potomac 
River. His paternal grandfather emigrated to this country from 
Germany, and settled in Virginia shortly before the outbreak of 
the Revolutionary war. During the war he was a soldier in the 
Continental army. Shortly after Abraham's birth his father 
moved to Overton County, Tennessee, about fifteen miles from 
Livingston, the county seat, on the Obey River. Here he began 
farming on a small scale, and hunting on a large scale. Young 
Abraham was then quite a rambler. His son, W. B. Carlock, 
says of him: "He busied himself in rambling over the moun- 
tains, hills and valleys, gathering chestnuts, chincapins, black- 
berries and whortleberries, and chasing squirrels and ground 
hogs (woodchucks)." If he did all of that in one day, it cer- 
tainly must have kept him quite busy. But it seems that the 
big game was left for Abraham's father, for the same good au- 
thority says; "There were a great many bear in the country at 
that time, but that sort of game was left for the old gentleman 
to attend to, and it is safe to say that bear meat was no rarity in 
the old man's family." Abraham Carlock was a good, indus- 
trious boy, and did not neglect his "chores." He "tended" the 



m'lean county. 839 

farm well, and raised corn, tobacco and sweet potatoes. He 
raised pork, too, for the Southern market, though his pigs had 
a bad habit of running wild and becoming, as his son says, "as 
wild as the wildest deer." At the age of twenty-four Abraham 
was married to Mary Goodpasture, and in his subsequent pros- 
perity he might exclaim : 

" She has my faithful shepherd been, 
In pastures good hath led me." 

In the spring of 1827 Abraham Carlock, with his "wife and 
two children moved to Morgan County, Illinois. They walked 
nearly the whole distance. After remaining there three or four 
years he moved to Dry Grove, McLean County, and in 1836 he 
moved to White Oak Grove. At White Oak Grove his boys 
caught many prairie chickens close to his house, even within 
thirty yards of his door. Sometimes they would catch twenty or 
thirty in a trap. They were dried and hung on strings to be pre- 
served. Shortly after the Black Hawk war he traveled over the 
northern part of the State, and especially over the Fox River 
country, to find land to purchase. While on his travels he met 
the old Indian chief, Shabbona, who lived on Fox River at the 
grove which bears his name. This chief had been a warm friend 
to the whites through good and evil report, and saved many lives 
during the Indian troubles in early days, by warning settlers of 
approaching danger. 

In the fall of 1833 occurred the celebrated phenomena called 
the falling of the meteors. Mr. Carlock was at that time in the 
Fox River country, and the meteors fell at all points of the com- 
pass, and lit up the whole heavens. Of course this phenomena 
alarmed the superstitious, as such things always do, and many 
people thought the millenium was surely at hand. 

In 1836 he sold his property at Dry Grove, and moved to 
White Oak Grove. His land at White Oak Grove lies partly in 
McLean and partly in Woodford County. His house stands 
about one hundred yards outside of the line of McLean County. 
Nevertheless he considers himself a McLean County man, as 
nearly all his interests are connected with it. Mr. Carlock and 
his careful wife have been blessed with twelve children. Ten of 
these grew to manhood and womanhood, and eight are now 
living. 



840 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Old Mr. Carlock will be seventy-five years of age on the 
seventh of April next. He is nearly six feet in height, has round 
shoulders, a fair complexion and a strong constitution. His hair 
is perfectly white. He is very active, full of life and humor, and 
does as much work as any hand on the farm. He is a great 
hunter, and has been known to kill three or four deer in a single 
day. He is now worth about one hundred thousand dollars, and 
has fairly earned it by patient toil and strict economy. He has 
about one thousand acres of choice land, finely improved and 
under good cultivation. The old gentleman is jovial, kind- 
hearted and hospitable by nature, and has a great many friends. 
In politics he is an uncompromising Democrat, one of the strict- 
est kind. There is no milk and sugar about it; he takes his 
Democracy clear. He cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson, 
and his last for Horace Greeley, because Mr. Greeley was nom- 
inated at Baltimore. He is such a staunch, uncompromising 
Democrat that many people who are unacquainted with his name 
know him as the "Old Democrat," and his son says his paper 
would pass current if signed with that soubriquet. 

In religion Mr. Carlock is a ITniversalist. His son says he has 
"read the scriptures strenuously " and believes in the salvation of 
all mankind. If a traveling minister of any denomination comes 
along, Mr. Carlock will entertain him most hospitably, but will 
probably make him sit up until two o'clock in the morning to 
discuss doctrinal points. He is full of eccentricities. In the 
presence of his children he pleads great poverty, in order to in- 
duce them to study economy. He was never known to make a 
visit, in the strict sense of the word. He is very much attached 
to his home, and never gets into debt, and it would be well if 
people generally had these eccentricities. He has never ridden in 
a railroad car, a steamboat or even an omnibus. 

Mr. Carlock is one of the most hospitable of men, indeed this 
seems to be the case with nearly all of the early pioneers ; his 
"latch-string is always out;" in his home there is good cheer, 
and in his welcome, good feeling. 



m'lean county. 841 



Stephen Taylor. 



Stephen Taylor was born in Washington County, Ohio, Feb- 
ruary 28, 1814. His father's name was Stephen Taylor, and his 
mother's, before marriage, was Lovisa Rathbone. His parents 
were Americans, as were their ancestors, so far as he knows. 
His father was born in New York, and his mother in Maine. 
Stephen Taylor, sr., enlisted during the war of 1812, at the last 
call for volunteers, and died at Detroit, Michigan, of sickness. 
There were four children in the Taylor family, and they had left 
to them four hundred dollars each. Their money was put into 
the hands of Squire John Brown, who put it into the hands of 
some one else, and it went the way of all money. 

When Stephen Taylor was sixteen years of age, he started 
out in life for himself without asking leave of any one, as his 
mother had married a second time and was provided for. He 
went to Morgan County, on the Muskingum River, and began 
chopping wood for twenty cents per cord. It was there that he, 
with two others, cut and corded in one job thirty-three hundred 
cords of wood. For the last wood he cut, on the Muskingum 
River, he received sixteen and two-thirds cents per cord ; but it 
was nearly all tree tops. He remained there for some time, and 
ran down about three times a year with salt to Cincinnati. He 
had only one accident, that he remembers particularly. He 
once had a boat containing salt staved in on some rocks. It was 
taken near shore immediately, but all except a few barrels of 
salt were spoiled. Stephen Taylor worked hard, and by his in- 
dustry earned enough money to come to Illinois and enter eighty 
acres of land and buy ten acres of timber. In 1836, he came by 
steamboat to Pekin, and walked from there to Bloomington, 
then back to Madison, Indiana. On the Sangamon River, he 
stopped at a hotel, where he was obliged to sleep in a room with 
fourteen others, and one of them, unfortunately, had some gold 
taken from his person. All of the company were searched, but 
the missing gold was not found. Mr. Taylor wore, at the begin- 
ning of this journey on foot, a pair of calf boots, which, becom- 
ing alternately wet and dry, shrank and blistered his feet, and 
he was somtimes obliged to walk in his socks. At Danville, he 
bought a pair of shoes and cut up his boots, as they could not 



842 OLD SETTLERS OF 

be sold. At Perrysville, on the Wabash, he went to a saloon 
and called for a pint of whisky. The barkeeper asked for his 
bottle, as a pint of whisky was considered rather a " stiff" drink. 
But Mr. Taylor used the fluid in a proper way, and poured it 
into his shoes to cure his blistered feet. He went on to Craw- 
fordsville, sometimes wading through water for long distances; 
but as the country was new, he could not stand upon trifles. At 
Madison, Indiana, he went on board of the General Pike, one of 
the fastest steamboats on the river. At Cincinnati, he ran out 
of funds, but found a friend, old Robert Fulton, who furnished 
the stamps required for his journey home. 

Stephen Taylor married, March 8, 1837, Betsey Dearborn, 
and in the fall came to White Oak Grove, McLean County, Illi- 
nois. He started, October 16, and arrived November 3. He 
went first to Pekin by steamboat and there paid ten dollars to 
be transported to his new home. He bought a little split log 
cabin, about ten by twelve feet in size, with a puncheon floor, 
and in this he wintered. During that winter, he did some hard 
work. He made rails, stakes and ground chunks for a fence, 
and hauled them two miles. He cut out the framing for a build- 
ing twenty feet by eighteen; he hauled the flooring, siding and 
sheeting from Bloomington, hewed the framing timber in the 
grove, and fenced twenty acres of land, that is, made three-quar- 
ters of a mile of fence. This is usually considered a great deal 
of work for one winter; but Mr. Taylor was a practised wood 
cutter and understood how to wield his tools to advantage. 

In about the year 1839, the farmers all over the country 
became disgusted with the low prices which they were receiving 
for pork, and all put their hogs together and sent some of their 
number to take them to Chicago. Mr. Taylor had eleven hogs 
in the "bunch," and helped to drive them. On the journey, it 
snowed and thawed and froze and sleeted, so that the party, 
which had just passed Big Sulphur Springs, returned to that 
place. It was so slippery that some of the hogs were carried 
back to that place. Here they remained twenty-one days, and 
here, too, Isaac Funk was weatherbound with a lot of hogs. He 
tried to harrow the ice and make it rough for the pigs to walk, 
but the experiment was a failure, they slipped on the ice in spite 
of him. Then he tied the hind legs of some of the pigs together 



m'lean county. 843 

to keep them from slipping, but all his experiments failed. The 
entire party stopped with a man named Fuller, and in order to 
pass away the time, held a lyceum and debated all the questions 
of the day. Mr. Fuller took part and, as he evidently thought a 
great deal of himself, Mr. Taylor and John Benson, jr., always 
decided in his favor, whenever they happened to be judges. 
The old fellow's vanity was so tickled that he always refused to 
debate, unless Taylor and Benson were to decide the question. 
The party was detained at the springs for twenty-one days, and 
bought all the corn they could find in the country to feed their 
swine. They went out hunting, and at one time found sixty- 
three deer in a drove. Mr. Taylor says, also, that it was a great 
place for bee trees, and that he saw from a single spot thirteen 
trees which had been cut down and the honey taken out. 

After waiting twenty-one days at the springs, a thaw came 
and the pigs were enabled to travel. They were taken to Chi- 
cago and sold, and when the expenses were paid, the money was 
divided among those who had contributed to make up the lot. 
Mr. Taylor had eleven fine hogs, averaging in weight two hun- 
dred and twenty-five pounds each, and he received for them in 
all six dollars and fifteen cents, which is about twenty-five cents 
per hundred ! The remainder received pay for their hogs in the 
same proportion. 

The early settlers went often to Pekin, to do their trading 
and sell their pork. Mr. Taylor tells of an incident that hap- 
pened while he was once on the road to Pekin with a drove of 
swine. He stopped at the house of a man named Prowty. The 
latter had a wife, who was indeed humorous to look upon. She 
had a long nose with a bunch on the end of it as large as a sweet 
potato, and her eyes might be mistaken for buckshot. She was 
addicted to alcoholic drinks, and while under the influence of a 
gentle stimulant her Yankee pride swelled in her bosom. Said 
she: "Do you know what Yankee means? Yankee means 
enterprise. Mr. Prowty and I are Yankees." Mr. Taylor was 
charged twenty-five cents for the privilege of sleeping on the 
puncheon floor, with nothing to eat. He wauted to buy the 
puncheon, to be used on some other occasion. Mr. Taylor took 
his hogs to Pekin, and sold them for little or nothing. Louis 
Stephens also took some there, and, when asked what he sold 
them for, replied : " Six bits a cord." 



844 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Mr. Taylor remembers a great many pleasant incidents of 
early days. He says that when he first came to the country, he 
saw Hon. John Moore, who was out electioneering. The latter 
asked for Taylor's vote ; but when Taylor learned Moore's poli- 
tics, and that he supported Mr. VanBuren, the vote asked for was 
refused. Seven years afterwards, when Taylor was hunting a 
stray horse, he met Moore. That gentleman recognized Taylor 
instantly, stopped him, called him into the house and treated him 
politely in every respect, and, speaking of the electioneering in- 
cidents, said : "You're the man that wouldn't vote for me." Mr. 
Taylor says that if he had known Moore at first as well as he did 
afterwards, he would have voted for him, regardless of party. 

Mr. Taylor has done some hunting, but never had any very 
dangerous adventures. He once killed an enormous lynx, after 
shooting it four times ; nothing was effectual except a shot 
through the head. Very many hunters have had contests with 
wounded deer, and Mr. Taylor once shot a deer which turned on 
him, with its hair all bristling up and pointing forward ; but the 
animal was so badly wounded that it made very little of a fight. 
In 1851 Stephen Taylor killed thirty-one wild turkeys, some of 
which he shot while standing in his door. Mrs. Taylor also shot 
at wild turkeys, but never killed any. 

Mr. Taylor tells a circumstance, showing the honest simplicity 
of John Magoun. In about the year 1835, while Mr. Taylor was 
riding on a steamboat from Cincinnati to Pittsburg, a man came 
on board, who was eloping with a young lady. For the purpose 
of amusement a mock court was organized to try the man. The 
witnesses were examined, and they gave contradictory testimony, 
as some of them thought the girl was running away with the 
man. But at last the man was convicted and sentenced to be 
hung, and his anxious lady set up a succession of shrieks. But 
the convicted man took the matter coolly, and was hung, the 
rope passing around the body. Stephen Taylor and Palmer 
Storey saw this performance. Thirty years afterwards, when 
they met in Bloomington, in company with John Magoun, Mr. 
Storey alluded to the hanging, but Taylor spoke in a mysterious 
way, and said they had better keep quiet about that. Then 
honest Magoun wished to know whether Taylor and Storey had 
really committed murder. 



m'lean county. * 845 

Mr. Taylor has had ten children, of whom seven are living. 
They are : 

Otis L. Taylor was a soldier in the Thirty-third Illinois Vol- 
unteers. He was at Cache, Black River Bridge, Champion Hills, 
Vicksburg, Jackson, Spanish Fort, Fredericktown, Port Gibson 
and Fort Esperanza. He now lives in Hardin County, Iowa, near 
Steamboat Rock. 

Mrs. Anna Leys, wife of John Leys, lives two miles and a half 
north of her father's, in "Woodford County. 

Zach "W". Taylor is teaching school about three and a half miles 
from his father's, in Woodford County. 

Mrs. Elsina Morgan, wife of Dr. Morgan, lives in Lawndale. 

Laura L. Taylor, I. D. Taylor (a girl) and John Taylor live at 
home. 

The eldest son, Isaac Taylor, is now dead. He was born Jan- 
uary 27, 1839, and served in the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volun- 
teers, and died September, 1863. His regiment was stationed at 
New Orleans ; but as he became sick he was allowed a furlough, 
and on the way home died in a hospital at Memphis. His father 
went down to him and brought his body home and buried it at 
White Oak Grove. 

Stephen Taylor is six feet and one and a half inches in height. 
He is slenderly built, has a sharp eye and a Roman nose. He 
loves humor, as the stories in this sketch indicate. He is a 
plucky man, and is not likely to be frightened by nonsense. He 
is perfectly straightford in all of his dealings, and wishes to meet 
all of his neighbors upon the level and part upon the square. He 
thinks he has the best of neighbors, and that no other place is so 
peculiarly blessed in this respect as White Oak Grove. He has 
been a justice of the peace, but has had little or nothing to do, 
as scarcely anybody there meddles with the law. 



PERSONS HOLDING POSITIONS OF HONOR OR TRUST. 



Thomas Pierce Rogers, M. D. 

Dr. Thomas Pierce Rogers was born December 4, 1812, in 
Columbiana County, Ohio. His ancestors came from the north 
of Ireland. His grandfather, George Augustus Rogers, was born 
about the year 1735, in the north of Ireland, was educated at 
Oxford for the ministry, but after much thought he decided not 
to contend against sin in general, but to fight against the enemies 
of England in particular, and accepted a commission in the 
British army. He came to this country as a Colonel in the army 
under General Braddoek, and was at the battle of Bloody Run, 
(or Braddock's defeat,) where the army was drawn into an am- 
buscade by the Indians, and the greater part of the soldiers were 
killed, General Braddoek himself being mortally wounded. This 
was the battle in which Colonel George Washington first tried 
his mettle, and where he showed the skill and daring which were 
so conspicuous in his management of armies in later life. The 
career of Colonel Rogers was quite full of adventures. He was 
with General "Wolfe when his army climbed the Heights of Abra- 
ham and stormed Quebec, and was in various fights and skirmishes 
of the French war. After peace was declared he returned to 
England, resigned his commission, and came to the United States 
in about the year 1774. His son, Alexander Rogers, the father 
of Dr. Rogers, whose sketch we are writing, was born in 1773, 
the year previous to the emigration of his father to America. 
The family first settled in Frederick County, Maryland, where it 
stayed until the year 1786, when it moved to Fayette County, 
Pennsylvania, on the extreme frontier. In order to reach their 
new home, they were obliged to travel across the Allegheny 
Mountains on pack horses. Such a journey would now be con- 
sidered more picturesque than agreeable. There Mr. Alexander 



m'lean county. 847 

Rogers married Catherine Waliahan, who was born in the town 
of Carlisle, Pa. Her parents came from the north of Ireland, 
and thus it is that Dr. Rogers has sprung from the genuine old 
North Irish stock. In the year 1798, his grandfather, his father, 
and all of their connection, moved on the extreme frontier, which 
was then the wilderness of Ohio, called the Northwestern Terri- 
tory. There his father settled on a farm, where he remained 
thirty-six years, and raised a family of eleven children, eight sons 
and three daughters. All of these children, except four, are now 
living. The farm consisted of four hundred acres, and lay in a 
heavily timbered country. The four youngest of the children, 
including the subject of this sketch, chose the practice of medi- 
cine for their profession in life. Nothing of importance occurred 
during the childhood of Dr. Rogers worthy of being celebrated 
in poetry or song, except that when about four years old he fell 
from a split plank bridge into a creek. This was infant baptism. 
The doctor received such an education as could be obtained in a 
new country. He was obliged to go two or three miles to school, 
which was kept in a little round-log school-house during the win- 
ter. At the age of seventeen he went to a select school at New 
Lisbon, and finished his education at a Quaker institution at 
Salem. He then returned home where he worked one or two 
years, continuing his course of study. He chose the profession 
of medicine, and began his study in Tuscarora County, Ohio. 
He taught school winters and studied summers. He finished his 
course of study in Philadelphia, and returned to Tuscarora Coun- 
ty, where he practiced medicine in company with Dr. Lewis. 
After practicing one year he earned enough to pay the expenses 
of his previous course of study, and to bring him West, and 
leave one hundred dollars in his pocket for working capital. In 
the spring of 1838, he started for Illinois on horseback, and came 
to Marshall. County. He examined the country from La Salle to 
the Sangamon River, passing through Bloomington on his way 
south ; the latter place contained about four hundred inhabitants, 
living principally south and west of the court-house. At that 
time he made the acquaintance of James Allin, General Gridley, 
Jesse W. Fell, Dr. Charles and Dr. Anderson. In the month of 
March he located at Decatur, Macon County. Dr. Rogers has a 
very large bump of what the phrenologists call locality. He likes 



848 OLD SETTLERS OF 

to look over the country and see what it amounts to and what it 
contains. He traveled over the greater part of Central Illinois, 
and made the acquaintance of the distinguished men who then 
were political lights in the State, such as Stephen A. Douglas, 
Abraham Lincoln, Judge Jesse B. Thomas, Judge Treat of the 
United States District Court for the southern district of Illinois, 
Edward Baker, afterwards Senator Baker, who, while Colonel of 
a regiment, was killed at Ball's Bluff during the early part of 
the rebellion, John J. Hardin, who fell at Buena Vista, Hon. 
David Campbell, Lyman Trumbull and Hon. John Moore, 
afterwards lieutenant governor of the State. The friendships he 
then formed were life long, and indeed these gentlemen were all 
men of warm feeling and ever ready to greet their friends. 

Soon after coming to Decatur, Dr. Rogers formed a partner- 
ship with Dr. Thomas H. Reed, from Nashville, Tennessee, a 
very estimable gentleman, who is yet living. The practice of 
these young men became very lucrative indeed. Dr. Rogers soon 
made the acquaintance of many young men in Decatur, and 
among them was Richard J. Oglesby, a genial young man, with 
a manner as hearty and kind as at present. Dr. Rogers moved 
from Decatur to Washington, Tazewell County, and formed a co- 
parnership with Dr. Gr. P. Wood. They never had any written 
agreement or special understanding for seven years. Dr. Wood 
was a Christian gentleman, and one of the purest men living. 
He had the confidence of the entire community and was a very 
successful practitioner. He died about one year since. 

In June, 1840, Dr. Rogers married Harriet Wilcox, of North 
Bergen, Genesee County, New York. This lady had been 
principal of a seminary, and her graces of person were equal to 
her intellectual acquirements. Her death occurred four years 
after her marriage. One child, Harriet Julia, born of this 
happy marriage — died at the age of nine months. . Dr. Rogers 
continued his practice with his usual success. In May, 1846, he 
made the acquaintance of the amiable and accomplished woman,, 
who became his wife. She was Mrs. Minerva Burhance, a widow 
lady with one daughter. Her fine sense and cultivated mind have 
had much to do with Dr. Rogers' subsequent success. 

In 1848, Dr. Rogers learned from Stephen A. Douglas, in 
Peoria, that the Illinois Central Railroad would surely be built, 



m'lban county. 849 

and this decided him to move to Bloomington for a permanenl 
location. As the building of the Illinois Central Railroad was a 
matter of national importance, and was the object of much 
scheming, a little bit of history may not be out of place in this 
connection. It was in 1848 that the conversation between Dr. 
Rogers and Senator Douglas occurred in the parlor of a hotel in 
Peoria. For twelve years various parties had been working to 
get a bill through congress donating lands to build the Illinois 
Central Railroad, but were unable to accomplish their purpose, 
as it was contended that the matter was one of only local import- 
ance. In the conversation alluded to, Judge Douglas spoke of 
this, and told his plan to effect his object. He said : " I am going 
to introduce a bill o-ivino- the alternate sections of land to the 
State of Illinois to build a railroad, and allowing the general 
government to charge $2.50 per acre for the remaining sec- 
tions, instead of $1.25, and by this means it will not only 
lose no money, but, on account of the railroad, will sell 
its land faster and help to build up the State and develop 
its resources. I am going to make it a national question, 
and introduce an amendment extending the road from Cairo to 
Mobile ; also an amendment extending it from opposite Cairo by 
Little Rock to Texas by way of the Red River Raft; also an 
amendment extending it from Galena to a point opposite Du- 
buque, Iowa, (Dunleith), a branch will also be proposed to Chicago 
and a branch to Mineral Point, Wisconsin. By so doing I secure 
the support of the senators from Kentucky, Henry Clay and Sen- 
ator Underwood, the t*vo senators, Bell and Jones, from Ten- 
nessee, Clay and Clements, of Alabama, the two senators, Soule 
and Slidell, from Louisiana, Senators Johnson and Sevier from 
Arkansas, and also the senators from Texas. By an appropria- 
tion to the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad, I secure the support of 
senators Atkinson and Benton, of Missouri; by extending the 
road to a point opposite Dubuque, Iowa, I secure the friendship 
of senators Jones and Dodge of that State ; by means of the 
branch to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, I secure the co-operation of 
the senators from that State ; by an understanding that something 
shall be done for a road in Michigan, extending from Detroit up 
to the lumber regions, I obtain the support of senators Cass and 
Stewart from that State." Mr. Douglas was sure that his plan 
54 



850 OLD SETTLERS OF 

would be successful. At that time he was serving- his first term 
in the Senate, and Mr. Lincoln was serving his first term in the 
House of Representatives, and by their united exertions the bill 
was carried triumphantly through. The United States gave the 
required land to Illinois, and Illinois gave it to the Illinois Central 
Railroad, on condition that the latter should always pay into the 
State treasury seven per cent, of its gross earnings. Ground was 
first broke in 1852, and cars were running from LaSalle to 
Bloomington in 1853. 

In Dr. Rogers' travels over the State he had found no land 
equal to McLean County, and had always wished to make it his 
home. He moved to Bloomington in March, 1849, and continued 
the practice of medicine up to 1867, when he retired from his 
profession, having been a successful practitioner for thirty years. 
He then engaged in agricultural pursuits. "While in the practice 
of his profession, Dr. Rogers was three times chosen a delegate 
to National Medical Conventions, which were held at St. Louis, 
Philadelphia and San Francisco, and was in attendance at the 
two former. He was twice chosen a delegate to State Medical 
Conventions. 

Dr. Rogers has been more or less connected with politics since 
coming to the West. "While at Decatur he held the office of 
postmaster for two years, one year under Yan Buren and one year 
under Harrison and Tyler. He resigned his office, partly because 
his medical duties gave him very little time to look after it, and 
partly because, being a Democrat, he did not wish to continue to 
hold office under a "Whig administration.' The situation was not 
very lucrative, and the business was done in the office of the cir- 
cuit clerk. In 1848 the doctor was selected by his party friends 
at the convention at the village of "Waynesville, to be their can- 
didate for State Senator, and Edward 0. Smith, of Macon Coun- 
ty, was selected in the same village as his opponent. The district 
then embraced Tazewell, McLean, Logan, DeWitt and Macon 
Counties. The Whig majority for General Taylor was about 
eleven hundred, but the doctor was only beaten by one hundred 
and sixty-three votes. In 1862 he again received the nomination 
of his party for State Senator, the district embracing McLean, 
DeWitt, Macon, Piatt and Moultrie Counties. His opponent was 
the Hon. Isaac Funk. The majority for Mr. Lincoln in 1860 was 



m'lean county. 851 

about seventeen hundred in this district, but the majority against 
Dr. Rogers was only two hundred and sixty. The doctor has 
been honored by his party by being made a member of every 
Democratic. State Convention, except one, since 1844 ; he bus 
been chairman of the Democratic Central Committee of McLean 
County for eighteen years out of twenty-four ; was appointed a 
delegate from Illinois to the convention at Baltimore which nom- 
inated Franklin Tierce; he was an alternate delegate to the 
Charleston convention ; he was a delegate to the Baltimore con- 
vention, when Douglas was nominated, saw the division in the 
party, saw Caleb Cushing leave the chair, saw Ben Butler secede 
from the convention with the Massachusetts delegation, and saw 
that break in the Democratic party, which resulted in the elec- 
tion of Abraham Lincoln, and precipitated the great rebellion. 
The seceders organized their convention in the city of Baltimore, 
and nominated Mr. Breckenridge. The doctor had free inter- 
course with the Southern delegates, and saw that a civil war was 
inevitable, unless a compromise was agreed upon. When the 
war came the doctor took strong ground for the Union, of course, 
and did much work in getting volunteers ; and in the early days 
of the rebellion, when many were hesitating and doubting, he 
took the stump and advocated crushing the rebellion out by the 
power of arms. In 1864 the doctor was a delegate to the con- 
vention which nominated McClellan for president ; he was on the 
committee of organization, and during the campaign took an ac- 
tive part in the canvass. This wound up his political career until 
the Liberal movement was inaugurated. Dr. Rogers then moved 
actively and efficiently in the matter, and by his influence pre- 
served harmony and strength in the movement. So efficient was 
he, and so alive to the issues of the hour, that the Liberal party 
placed him in nomination as its candidate for the legislature un- 
der the minority representation system. He was elected a member 
of the lower house of the Assembly, and is at present serving in 
that capacity. He has been made a member of the committee on 
finance, the committee on education, and the committee on coun- 
ty and town organization, which shows the high regard in which 
he is held by the members of the house. He is recognized in 
the legislature 'as one of the most active and far-sighted of the 
members ; in the heat of debate he never loses his self-command. 



852 OLD SETTLERS OF 

He understands parliamentary law and practice, and in the hurry 
of business his mind is ever clear. It is well known that in the 
hurry and confusion many members cannot keep track of what 
is going on, and sometimes become very much confused, and it 
thus becomes necessary to have some persons who shall be rec- 
ognized as leaders, who are able to guide and direct the forces 
»>f the party efficiently. In this capacity Dr. Rogers does excel- 
lent service, and indeed his presence and influence have on many 
i x-asions turned the tide of victory in favor of the Liberals in the 
Assembly. 

Dr. Rogers is a man of commanding presence, and every line 
of his countenance, every motion, shows him to be a cultivated 
gentleman ; his hair is whitened by many years of labor. In 
political matters he is certainly possessed of those qualities 
which bring success ; he has great energy and resolution, and is 
a tine speaker. He possesses great tact and skill in the manage- 
ment of men, and has a happy faculty of uniting all forces effect- 
ively and carrying his point. He has many friends among all 
political parties, and it is to be hoped that he may live yet many 
years to enjoy their friendship and regard. 

Judge Thomas F. Tipton. 

Thomas F. Tipton was born August 29, 1833, in Franklin 
County, Ohio. His father's name was Hiram Tipton, and his 
mother was Deborah Ogden. Both of English descent. Hiram 
Tipton was a farmer. In 1844 the Tipton family moved to Money 
Creek township, McLean County, Illinois, and settled down near 
where Towanda now stands. Hiram Tipton died within a year 
after his arrival in Illinois, leaving three children, John Tipton, 
who is a farmer, living in Money Creek township ; Jane, wife of 
William S. Tuttle, living in Saybrook, and Thomas F. Tipton, 
the subject of this sketch. At the age of sixteen, Thomas at- 
tended school at Lexington, taught at that time by Colonel Coler. 
The latter, who was a fine teacher, is the same gentleman who 
afterwards made a donation of five thousand dollars to the Wes- 
leyan University, on condition that the chapel of that institution 
should be called " Amie," after his mother. After studying for 
a year at Lexington, Thomas F. Tipton commenced reading law 
in the mornings and evenings. At the age of eighteen he read 



m'lban county. 853 

law for a short time in the office of a Mr. Keightley, ai Knox- 
ville, Illinois. Shortly after this lie returned t<> Bloomington, 
where he was admitted to the bar. 

On the 23rd of October, 1856, he married, in Bloomington, 
Miss Mary J. Stray er, daughter of Nicholas and Esther Strayer. 

He commenced the practice of the law at Lexington, in the 
spring of 1854; in January of 1862, he moved to Bloomington : 
and in April, 1863, formed a law partnership with li. M. Benja- 
min, the present judge of the county court. This partnership 
lasted until 1870, when Mr. Tipton was elected judge of the Mc- 
Lean circuit court, to fill a vacancy caused by the election of 
Judge Scott to the supreme court. In June, 1873, Judge Tipton 
was re-elected judge of the McLean circuit court, for the full 
term of six years. Since his accession to the bench, even more 
than before that time, he has been a close student and a laborious 
worker. Having the administration of the most important judi- 
cial circuit in the State, he is called upon at every term of court 
to decide a numberless variety of intricate legal questions, re- 
quiring diligent study and accurate reasoning. He meets all 
such questions with a ripe mind, and a breadth of thought, that 
have made him the most prominent circuit judge in the State, 
and a man who is personally admired and beloved. 

In personal appearance, Judge Tipton is five feet ten inches 
in height, strongly built, with broad shoulders, and weighs some- 
what over two hundred pounds. He has light hair, fair com- 
plexion, and a face strongly indicative of intelligence, virtue and 
justice. 

Amasa J. Merriman. 

Amasa J. .Merriman was born December 1, 1818, in Stanstead, 
Canada East, about seventy-five miles from Montreal. His an- 
cestors were English. His father, Isaac H. Merriman, was a 
farmer. Amasa J. Merriman was one of a family of nine chil- 
dren, of whom six lived to be grown. He received his education 
at a common, subscription school, which he attended during the 
winter months until he was seventeen years of age. 

Mr. Merriman taught school at the age of eighteen, and con- 
tinued for two years, with a compensation of twelve dollars a 
month and board. He " boarded around," according to the cus- 



854 OLD SETTLERS OF 

torn in those days. During the summer months he worked on 
a farm. "While he taught school he was also a clerk in a store 
hefore and after school hours, showing that he was an industrious 
young man. In 1839, when he was twenty years of age, he 
started for the West. From Chicago he went to Peoria by steam- 
boat to St. Louis. At the. latter place he heard of Bloomington, 
and on coming here, (in November, 1839,) found a place as clerk 
in the store of B. C. Haines. In 1842, Mr. Merriman bought 
out Owen Cheney, and commenced business on his own account. 
He continued until 1856, when he sold out to a man named 
Augustus. During that year Mr. Merriman was chosen county 
judge, and this office he still holds. He was chosen first to fill 
a vacancy by the resignation of B. H. Coffey. When the office 
became elective, he was elected first without opposition, and was 
afterwards elected four times by the Republican party. Shortly 
after Judge Merriman was appointed to office, the question came 
up as to the location of the Normal school, which the State pro- 
posed to build. It was to be located where the greatest induce- 
ments were held out. Mr. Jesse W. Fell was anxioijs to have it 
located in or near Bloomington, and worked for this object un- 
ceasingly. The county judges or commissioners then did all the 
business of the county, and had the authority now possessed by 
the board of supervisors. They appropriated seventy thousand 
dollars to be raised from the proceeds of the sale of the swamp 
lands, as an inducement to locate the Normal here. In addition 
to this, many private contributions were made, and the effort to 
obtain the institution was successful. Since the year 1857, Judge 
Merriman has been special commissioner for the sale of swamp 
lands. During his term of office, he paid $70,000 to the formal 
school, and $53,000 to the school fund for the different town- 
ships. 

On the first of November, 1842, Judge Merriman married 
Miss Clara C. I. Bullock, in Stanstead, Canada East. He has 
had a family of four children, of whom two are living. 

Judge Reuben M. Benjamin. 

Judge R. M. Benjamin was born June 29th, 1833, at Chatham 
Centre, in the County of Columbia, and State of New York. His 
father and maternal grandfather were both of English descent,. 



m'lean county. 855 

but his maternal grandmother was of Welch descent. His grand- 
father, Ebenezer Benjamin, was a Captain in the Revolutionary 
war, and removed from Norwich, Connecticut, to the town of 
Chatham, New York, where he died December 22, 1789, aged 
55 years. His father, Darius Benjamin, was a private in the war 
of 1812, and died at Chatham Centre, New York, April 24, 1850, 
aged 69 years. His maternal grandfather, Timothy Rogers, was 
born at Middletown, Connecticut, and moved in early life to the 
town of Chatham, New York, where he died June 24th, 1850, 
aged 84 years. His mother, Martha Benjamin, is living at Ben- 
jaminville, in this county, and is in her 80th year. 

The subject of this sketch, Judge R. M. Benjamin, was 
brought up on a farm, attending the district school in the winter 
time, until he was about fourteen years of age. He was prepared 
for college at Kinderhook Academy, New York, and was grad- 
uated at Amherst College, Massachusetts, in 1853. For the 
ensuing year he was principal of Hopkins Academy, Hadley, 
Mass. He next attended the lectures of Parker, Parsons and 
"Washburn, at the Law Institution in Harvard University, two 
terms, and then in 1855-6, was tutor in Amherst College. 

Judge Benjamin came to Bloomington in the spring of 1856, 
was admitted to the practice of the law upon the examination 
and certificate of Abraham Lincoln, on September 5, 1856. He 
was married at Chatham Village, New York, September 15, 1856, 
to Miss Laura E. Woodin, the daughter of David G. Woodin, 
who for many years was county superintendent of schools of 
Columbia County, New York. 

In the fall of 1856, he entered into partnership w 7 ith Messrs. 
Gridley and Wickizer, and remained with them until the former 
retired from the practice of the law, and the latter entered the 
army. In the spring of 1863, he formed a partnership with 
Thomas F. Tipton, now circuit judge. In January, 1867, Cap- 
tain J. H. Rowell became a member of their firm, and remained 
such until he was elected State's Attorney in 1868. In May, 1869, 
Hon. Lawrence Weldon became a member of the firm, and since 
the election of Mr. Tipton to the office of circuit judge, in 1870, 
the firm has consisted of Messrs. Weldon & Benjamin. In Nov- 
ember, 1869, Mr. Benjamin was elected a delegate to the Consti- 
tutional Convention of this State, and was appointed a member 



856 OLD SETTLERS OF 

of the Committee on Bill of Rights, Municipal Corporations, 
State Institutions and Public Buildings, Accounts and Expendi- 
tures, and Schedule. He took an active part in the preparation 
and discussion of some of the most important articles of the 
Constitution of 1870. Referring to his speech on the Railroad 
article, Mr. Ross, the member from Fulton County, remarked : 
" I cheerfully subscribe to the views of the gentleman from Mc- 
Lean. I think the Convention and the people of the State owe 
him a debt of gratitude. It has the true ring of the doctrine 
that should be inculcated by all our statesmen." And Mr. Brom- 
well, the member from Coles County, remarked: " I agree with 
the gentleman from Fulton that the community at large owe the 
gentleman from McLean thanks for the masterly manner in which 
he has demonstrated the right and the power of the people, in- 
hering in, ever living, and ever present, to command in the name 
of and for the people, the creatures which they have put on foot, 
the corporations which they have organized, in respect to the 
terms upon which they shall enjoy those invaluable franchises 
which they are lawfully permitted to enjoy." — Debates of Con- 
stitutional Convention, vol. 2, p. 1643. 

Judge Benjamin was one of the counsel for the people in the 
celebrated Chicago & Alton Railroad case, involving the question 
as to the right of railroad corporations to charge more for a less 
than a greater distance, and since then he has been employed as 
special counsel for the Railroad and Warehouse Commission. In 
November, 1873, he was elected without opposition to the office 
of County Judge of McLean County, which shows the great 
popularity among the people and the great confidence the people 
of McLean County have in him. He ranks among the first law- 
yers of the State. His term of office is for the period of four 
years from the first of December last. 

In his personal appearance, Judge Benjamin bears the impress 
of the student. His demeanor, countenance, language and pose, 
are those of a delver into the mines of knowledge that are accu- 
mulated in libraries and law offices. Of medium stature and 
light build; with hair, eyes and complexion, darker than those 
of a blonde, yet lighter than those of the swarthy Southern type ; 
his presence is one that indicates a man accustomed to coolly 
and carefully consider all the bearings of a case, and from an 



m'lean county. 857 

impartial standpoint to decide it fairly on its merits, regardless 
of its pecuniary results on contending claimants. During his 
brief career as judge of the County Court, he has won the admi- 
ration of the bar and the people, by reason of the rapidity and 
accuracy with which he dispatches business. The recent import- 
ant increase in the jurisdiction of the County Court, has more 
than quadrupled its work, but it is a satisfaction to the people 
that they have an able jurist at the head of that tribunal — one 
who is thoroughly competent to administer its affairs with honor 
to himself and to the county. 

General John MoNulta. 

The following sketch of General John MclSTulta is taken from 
the Bloomington Pantograph, of May 31, 1872: 

" General John McXulta was born in November, 1837, in 
New York city. His father was of Irish birth, and was of that 
extraction known as Scotch-Irish. His mother was of French 
descent. He resided in New York and the immediate vicinity 
until about the year 1850. At that time, having an inclination 
for travel, although quite young, under the patronage of relatives, 
he visited the Southern States and the West India Islands, and 
made one voyage to England. In 1853 he came to Attica, Indi- 
ana, and, placing himself under the care of General George F. 
Dick, (now of this city) he learned the trade of cigar maker. In 
May, 1859, he located in Bloomington, and commenced the same 
business, under the firm of Dick & Co. Having an inclination 
for the law, he was permitted to use the library of the late Gene- 
ral W. W. Orme, and devoted his time in the intervals of business 
to reading law. This continued until April, 1861. At this time 
he enlisted in the army, and was made captain, May 3, 1861, of 
company A. of the First Illinois Cavalry, or the first company of 
the first regiment of cavalry from the State of Illinois. This 
regiment was assigned for duty in Missouri, where, after a suc- 
cession of fights and skirmishes, they participated in the memor- 
able nine days battle at Lexington, in September, 1861, which 
terminated in the surrender of the Union forces to General Price. 
He, with the other troops of the command, were paroled and re. 
turned home. He was exchanged in November for Captain J. 
Thomas Whitfield, a confederate officer, who was one of our 



858 OLD SETTLERS OF 

prisoners. Captain McNulta then reorganized his company and 
was assigned for duty in Southwestern Missouri. But as the 
regiment had so many of its members captured, it was mustered 
out of service July 17, 1862. Captain McNulta was tendered, by 
Governor Yates, a commission as lieutenant colonel, of what 
afterwards became the 91st Illinois Infantry. This he declined. 
About the same time President Lincoln issued authority to him 
to raise a regiment of cavalry. Just prior to the receipt of this 
authority he had, however, enlisted as a private in Company D, 
94th Illinois Infantry, and was mustered into service. He was 
soon elected lieutenant colonel, and on the promotion of Colonel 
Orme, McNulta was commissioned as colonel of the 94th, and 
much of the time during the remainder of the war he was in 
command of the Second Brigade, Second Division, Thirteenth 
Army Corps. On the 9th of April, 1865, he was commissioned 
brevet brigadier general 'for gallant and meritorious services 
in the field.' He returned home August 9th, 1865, was soon 
after admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law. 

"In 1868 he received the Republican nomination for the State 
Senate, and was elected by a majority of about 2,700. He rep- 
resented the district with marked ability for four years. 

"In 1870 he was a candidate in the triangular contest for 
Congress in the Republican convention, which resulted in the 
nomination of Colonel Merriam." 

In 1872 he was successful in receiving the unanimous nomina- 
tion for Congress at the hands of the Republicans of the new 
Thirteenth District, and was triumphantly elected. 

General MclSTulta is of medium stature, is well formed, has 
broad shoulders, has great courage and resolution, is very quick- 
sighted, understands human nature, and sees a person's thoughts 
instantly. He is very polite to all, and particularly agreeable to 
ladies. He is exceedingly humorous, and it appears perfectly 
natural for him to interest people by his manner and canversa- 
tion. He lias many friends, and himself has warm attachments. 

Hon. John L. Routt. 

John L. Routt was born April 25, 1827, in Eddyville, the 
county seat of Lyon County, Kentucky. AVhile he was an in- 
fant, his father, who was a farmer, died, leaving Mrs. Routt with 



m'lean county. 859 

tour children, in rather straightened circumstances. Mrs. Routl 
moved to Trigg County, Kentucky, where she lived a widow until 
1884, when she was again married. In 1840 John Routt was ap- 
prenticed to his cousin, Samuel B. Haggard, of Bloomington, 
Illinois, to learn the carpenter's trade. The lad applied himself 
industriously to his trade for two years and a half. But at this 
time Mr. Haggard wished to become a farmer, and young Routt 
was left free to work on his own account. He was very success- 
ful, and soon received the highest wages paid, which were 
seventy-five cents per day, and board himself. He worked for 
Mr. O. Covel in building a mill, for carding and cloth dressing. 
The latter became interested in the lad and induced him to learn 
the carding and cloth-dressing business. Mr. Covel's establish- 
ment consisted of a grist mill, a saw mill and complete cloth 
dressing machinery. At the end of one year Routt could, in the 
absence of the proprietors, take charge of the establishment in 
all its details. The mill was in a great measure the center of 
local, political and social interest, and young Routt soon became 
familiar with the ways of the world. But he soon saw the 
necessity of an education. He went to school during three 
months in the year, and in addition to this employed all his leis- 
ure time in study. At the age of nineteen he married Hester 
A. Woodson, one of the noblest and gentlest of women, who 
died two years since. The stock of worldly goods belonging to 
these juvenile "old folks" consisted of twenty dollars in money 
and a few clothes suited to their station. They married because 
they thought themselves suited to each other, an old fashioned 
reason somewhat fallen into disuse. Mr. Covel's mill was de- 
stroyed by fire, and Routt returned to his trade as carpenter and 
machine worker. In 1854 he was elected alderman of Bloom- 
ington. About this time he borrowed twenty-five dollars from 
his friend, Lyman Ferre, and purchased a quarter of a block of 
ground and built on it a small house. He tried the life of a 
farmer for a short time, but returned to his trade. He took a 
lively interest in politics, was originally a Whig, but upon a re- 
arrangement of parties in 1856, became a Republican, and has 
remained so ever since. 

In 1856 Mr. Routt had accumulated a little money, and in 
common with man} T others began to speculate in Western lands. 



860 OLD SETTLERS OF 

In 1856 and '57 the great financial crash came. But a more 
serious disaster resulted to Mr. Routt. He had purchased land 
on the bank of the Missouri River, but the shifting current 
changed its course and all of Mr. Routt's domain became the 
bed of the river, and his rich soil was washed away to be added 
to the accretions at the mouth of the Mississippi. 

In 1858, when township organization was effected in McLean 
County, Mr. Routt was elected collector, and as the office was 
entirely new, the work required much skill. He was re-elected 
without opposition. In 1860, Mr. Routt thought of being a can- 
didate for sheriff, and while he was hesitating, it came to his 
knowledge, that one of his opponents had said : "It would be 
folly for little Routt to run," and he immediately determined to 
make the canvass. He was materially assisted by William Mc- 
Cullough, who was candidate for circuit clerk. The convention 
met, and while it was in session, Judge Davis, then circuit judge, 
and now associate justice of the United States supreme court, said 
to Routt in his peculiar way : " Look here, John, McCullough 
tells me that you are going to get this , nomination. How is it, 
John ? You are going to get it, ain't you ? Of course you are 
going to get it; McCullough says so and that is enough." Mr. 
Routt was nominated on the second ballot and elected. 

In 1862, when the second call for volunteers was made, John 
Routt decided to go to the war. He assisted in recruiting and 
organizing the Ninety-fourth Illinois, and was chosen captain by 
acclamation. Judge Davis presided at the organization of the 
company in the old Phoenix Hall, and it was made the color com- 
pany of the Ninety-fourth. Captain Routt left the sheriff's office 
in charge of a deputy, and went to the war. In the fall of 1862, 
the regiment made the most wonderful march on record, from 
Wilson's Creek battle-ground to the battle-ground of Prairie 
Grove, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, in a little more 
than three days. There the army of General Herron, to which 
the regiment belonged, fought the battle of Prairie Grove, one 
of the sharpest contests of the war. After this, Captain Routt 
and many others were sent home to recruit soldiers for the regi- 
ments. In the spring of 1863, he went back to the army. In the 
meantime, Colonel W. W. Orme had been made a brigadier 
general for his services at the battle of Praire Grove, and the 



m'lean county. 861 

army went into camp at Lake Spring. Here Captain Routt was 
detailed to act as quartermaster, and held the position until after 
the capitulation of Vicksburg. After this he was commissioned 
as quartermaster, and served as chief quartermaster in the army 
of the Rio Grande, commanded by General TIerron. After the 
disastrous Red River expedition of General Banks, Colonel Routt 
was assigned as post quartermaster at Baton Rouge, and continued 
in this position until he left the army in 1865. On arriving home 
he was made treasurer of McLean County, and immediately began 
the payment of the county bonds and interest as they became 
due, and in a short time they rose to par in the market and re- 
mained so. At the expiration of two years he was nominated by 
a decided majority and re-elected. 

At the commencement of President Grant's administration, 
General Giles A. Smith, of Bloomington, was appointed second 
assistant postmaster general, and Colonel Routt was selected as 
chief clerk of this bureau, but did not accept the position until 
his term of office as treasurer had expired. He filled the place 
with credit until he was appointed IT. S. Marshal for the southern 
district of Illinois. The duties of the office during that year 
were especially difficult as the census Avas then taken. This work 
was one of great difficulty, and required the best judgment; but 
his returns were accurately and speedily made out, and he re- 
ceived a well merited compliment from the Commissioner of the 
census. In the fall of 1871, General Giles A. Smith was obliged 
to resign his position on account of failing health, and Postmaster 
General Cresswell immediately selected Colonel Routt as Smith's 
successor. Col. Routt resigned his office as marshal, and entered 
upon the duties of his office as second assistant postmaster gene- 
ral, October 17, 1871. To his office belongs the charge of all the 
mails throughout the country, and he has performed his duties 
with marked ability. He comes in immediate contact with all 
the great corporations, and in dealing with them he is firm and 
decided. "When the railroads threatened to throw off the mails. 
if the former did not receive increased compensation, Col. Routt 
was determined that the postffice department should not be in- 
timidated by these giant monopolies. 

Col. John L. Routt tells the following anecdote of our citizen, 
John E. McClun. He says that he recently met a Col. McCleave 



862 OLD SETTLERS OF 

in his office in Washington City, who, as soon as he learned that 
Col. Routt was from Bloomington, Illinois, enquired after his 
former schoolmate, John E. McClun, saying that they had been 
I ii »ys together, and without any further ado related to him the 
following anecdote. He said : " Young John was often sent to 
Winchester market by his energetic and excellent mother, with 
the products of her dairy, garden and poultry -yard, and he opened 
out his butter, eggs, chickens, etc., generally with tine success, 
and became very expert in selling. One day, however, the young 
marketer was at his wit's end, for among other articles in his 
stock was a pair of dressed geese, which remained on his hand 
long after everything else was disposed of. At length, when he 
almost despaired of getting rid of this remnant of his cargo — for 
the geese were evidently old and tough — an old lady offered him 
a certain price for one of them; but John, after making her a 
polite bow, and thanking her for the offer, assured her that he 
was opposed upon principle to selling one without the other, for, 
said he, with seeming earnestness : ' My dear madam, these poor 
old geese have been united together in life in the most amicable 
relationship for twenty years, and it would be sad to part them 
now.' This shrewd statement — which linked a financial effect 
with a humanitarian thought — had the desired result on the old 
lady, for she at once bought both geese ; but how much boiling 
and roasting she afterwards bestowed upon the venerable pair, 
John never learned." 

Col. Routt, after having related this incident to me, added, in 
a humorous way : " As Judge McClun for many years sold goods 
in Bloomington, in early times, I have no doubt many old set- 
tlers here could be found to testify that he was as successful in 
many instances in disposing of ancient articles of merchandize 
in McLean County, as he was in the sale of the tough old geese 
at Winchester." 

In personal appearance Col. Routt is slightly below the me- 
dium height, stoutly built, has a large, well-shaped head with 
prominent forehead, black hair, dark hazel eyes, and strongly 
marked features. He is courteous and affable, though firm and 
decided, and has a pleasing address, which wins him friends 
wherever he goes. His political common sense enables him to 
grasp a subject and comprehend it at once in all its bearings, and 



m'lean county. 863 

his decisions always promptly made, are, nevertheless, more than 
usually safe and correct. He reads human nature with remark- 
able accuracy, and seldom has occasion to revise his first estimates 
of character. He is ever ready to lend a helping hand to the 
worthy and deserving, but has a thorough contempt for all pre- 
tenders and shams, whether the shams be men or measures. 
There is not in Illinois, perhaps, among our active politicians, a 
more outspoken man or sincere friend, than John L. Routt. 

Col. J. L. Routt married, May 21, 1874, Miss Lila Pickerell, 
of Decatur, Illinois. 

Henry Honscheidt. 

Henry Honscheidt was born in Cologne, on the Rhine, in 
Germany, and there received his early education. When he was 
nineteen years of age he emigrated to America, having been 
drawn here by the attraction of a new country and a free and 
generous government, and the opportunity of growing up with 
a new community. He was then a cabinet maker by trade. In 
the fall of 1854 he landed at ]STew York city, and there worked 
at his trade for three years. In 1857 he started for Indiana, be- 
cause of the great financial crisis of that year. He came to 
Bloomington in May, 1861, and in August of the following year 
he enlisted to fight in the service of his adopted country. He 
served in the Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers, entering the ser- 
vice as a private, and being mustered out as a first lieutenant 
and was afterwards breveted a captain. He was at the battle of 
Prairie Grove, at the siege of Vicksburg, at the capture of 
Brownsville, Texas, and at the siege of Fort Morgan and Span- 
ish Fort. He served under General McNulta, and at the close 
of the war was discharged with his regiment, after which he 
worked for a while at his trade. In the fall of 1868 he was ap- 
pointed assistant assessor of internal revenue. He was elected 
sheriff of McLean County November 5, 1872, by the Republican 
party, and has filled his position most acceptably. On the 5th of 
April, 1874, Colonel E. R. Roe, United States Marshal for the 
Southern District of Illinois, appointed Captain Honscheidt 
deputy marshal, which position he also fills with credit to him- 
self and to the satisfaction of those with whom he has business 
relations. 



864 OLD SETTLERS OF 

Captain Honscheidt is a man of good muscular development, 
and is heavily built. Added to this is a certain genial and win- 
ning good humor, that is a part of his nature, making him per- 
sonally popular with everybody who meets him. He has brought 
to the office of sheriff such efficiency and industry, that the in- 
terests of the county have been admirably cared for during his 
management of this important trust. While he has the tenderest 
feelings for the land of his birth, he has shown his love for the 
country of his adoption by fighting for three years in her ser- 
vice. 

John Hull. 

The author is under obligations for many of his statistics 
relating to the schools to Mr. John Hull, the present superin- 
tendent of schools in McLean County, and a personal sketch of 
the suberintendent may be desired by those interested in the 
schools. 

John Hull was born February 6, 1839, in Marion County, 
Illinois. His father, Mr. Samuel Hull, was a native of Ken- 
tucky, but has been a citizen of Illinois for more than fifty years. 
Mr. John Hull is a graduate of the Normal School. He seems 
to have faith in the sufficiency of the public schools, as he has 
attended no other. He carefully educated himself for a teacher 
and caught the spirit of the profession. 

He entered the Normal school in 1857, and graduated from it 
with the first class, in 1860. He was principal of the school of 
Salem for the year 1860-61; teacher of mathematics in the Illi- 
nois Normal University, 1861-62 ; and principal of the High 
School in Bloomington, 1862-64. The following year was oc- 
cupied among the schools of this and adjoining States. During 
the greater part of the time from 1865 until 1869 he has been a 
member of the Board of Education, of Bloomington, and of the 
committee of school examiners for the city schools. 

In 1869 Mr. Hull was elected Superintendent of Schools of 
McLean County ; indeed it seems that his entire attention has 
been directed to the interests of education. In 1862 he was 
married to Mary Frances Washburn, the daughter of A. C. 
Washburn, Esq., an old school teacher, and it is expected that 
his two promising children will, in the course of time, follow in 



.m'i.kan county. 865 

the footsteps of their father and become school teachers too! 

Mr. Hull found the schools of McLean County in pretty good 
condition, and he lias worked faithfully not only to keep them 
up to their old standard, but improve them ; and has succeeded 
in arousing among the teachers a feeling of enthusiasm for the 
profession in which they are engaged. This leads to thorough 
preparation and fitness for their work. 

Mr. Hull is an active young man, with the greater part of his 
life before him, and it is to be hoped that he will continue to 
devote himself as heretofore to the cause of education. His 
labors seem to be appreciated by his fellow-teachers. At the 
County Teachers' Institute, in 1873, the members took occasion 
to present him with a fine cane, upon which was the inscription 
" John Hull, by Institute, August 8, 1873." The State Teachers' 
Association honored him with the chairmanship of its executive 
committee in 1872, and with the presidency in 1873. 



55 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 

J. CAMPBELL, D. D. S., 

208 N. CENTRE ST., WEST OF SQUARE, 

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. 



Dr. Campbell has had great experience in dentistry and is thoroughly 
educated for the profession. His workmanship is of^the best, and his skill 
has already gained for him great notoriety. 

His instruments are of the best kind and he is always on the alert to 
obtain the latest improvements. 

Dr. Campbell makes the treating andj filling of decaying teeth a spe- 
cialty, and practices the profession in all its branches. His work stands 
the test of time perfectly, and we judge this to be the cause of the great 
business activity at the Doctor's office. 

To those who are troubled with their teeth, we consciensciously recom- 
mend the office of Dr. Campbell, No. 208 Centre St., "West of the Square, 
as the place of their immediate relief. 

A. B. GILLETT. M. F. CASE. 

GILLETT & CASE, 

WHOLESALE DEALERS IN 

WATCHBS. FINB JEWELRY AND 8ILVRRWARB, 

Next Door South of Post Office, No, 219 Main St. 

The firm of Gillett & Case commenced business in Bloomington in 
the winter of 1857-58. JNIr. A. B. Gillett had previously to this time 
been engaged for about eight years in Warren, Ohio, in the retail trade. 
And in the winter of 1857-58 he w T as attracted by the situation of our 
" Evergreen City," and especially by its enterprising people, and com- 
menced business here with Mr. E. B. Steere, under the style of Gillett & 
Steere. In 1869 Mr. M. F. Case purchased the interest of Mr. Steere, and 
the firm was changed to Gillett & Case. The wholesale business was add- 
ed in 1872. By strict attention to business and straightforwardness in all 
their dealings, the firm has gained an enviable reputation, and is looked 
upon as No. 1 throughout Illinois. At their storeroom may be seen the 
finest display of diamonds, gold and silver watches, gold chains, bracelets, 
silver table sets and silver ware of every description ; also heavy plated 
goods and every other article belonging to a first-class jewelry store. They 
also keep a good assortment of clocks and watch material for the whole- 
sale trade. They have traveling salesmen for this branch of their trade, 
who call on customers far and wide in the interests of the house. Messrs. 
Gillett & Case are both practical business men of long experience, and 
employ Mr. Piatt for repairing and engraving, who is considered to be 
the first mechanic in that line in the country. Mr. A. Froehlich, their 
German salesman, has been with them sometime. The prices of Gillett 
& Case are uniform, and they offer goods at such low prices that we 
strongly advise every purchaser to call at their establishment, No. 219 
Main Street, next door south of the Post Office, Bloomington, 111. 



APPENDIX. 

HAYES & EVANS. 



The firm of Haves & Evans, contractors and builders, is widely 
known. Their establishment is situated on Centre Street, third block 
north of the Court House, Blooming ton, Illinois. 

The firm has gained unenviable reputation. Good work, straightfor- 
wardness in all transactions, and the fulfillment of any work contracted 
for, has beeu its motto ; and when such principles are the guide to busi- 
ness, success is sure to follow. 

The firm commenced the business of contracting and building in the 
spring of 185(j with a united capital of about $500. The first contractthey 
undertook was the building of what was known as the Landon House, 
which, (with the exception of the residence of Jesse W. Fell, Esq.,) was 
the first dwelling house of any considerable worth erected within the 
limits of Normal. In the same year, Hayes & Evans built Major's Col- 
lege, and the second PresbyterianChurch;* the latter building was finished 
in the early part of 1857. In 1857, as is well known, a financial panic 
broke out, but Hayes & Evans prospered in business in '57 and '58, for all 
that. In the spring of 1859 Mr. S. S. Parke entered the firm as partner, 
and a new planing mill (a frame building) was put up on the site of the 
present mill, and a general planing-mill business, and the manufacture 
of doors, sash and blinds, was added to the former business of contracting 
and building. 

In 18.59 the firm had the contract for building the fine residence of 
General Gridley, which is an ornament to the city of Bloomington ; and 
also a number of other contracts for stores and residences. 

In April, 18.60, the planing-mill was destroyed by fire, after having been 
occupied one week less than a year, and by this fire were swept away, in 
a few minutes, all the earnings accumulated by four years of previous 
hard work, including a large amount of costly work prepared during the 
winter for buildings under contract. Notwithstanding all these discour- 
agements and misfortunes, the firm soon commenced building their pres- 
ent planing-mill, a larger and much better structure of brick, and had it 
all completed and in running order before the summer was over. Since 
then, the business of this establishment has prospered and increased grad- 
ually and steadily until it has become the leading firm of Bloomington 
in this branch of industry. 

En 1805 Mr. Parke sold out his interest to the original firm of Hayes A.- 
Evans, and the business has been conducted by these gentlemen from that 
time till now. 

In 1&66 a general assortment of building lumber was added to the busi- 
ness for the purpose of supplying all those who might feel inclined to 
give their patronage in that department. A survey of the stock will con- 
vince any one at once what the firm has done in this respect. Every loot 
of lumber is of the best quality, and well se soned. 

Besides the residences heretofore mentioned, Hayes and Evans have 
been the contractors for a large number of the finest dwellings in Bloom- 
ington and in the neighboring towns, including many public buildings 
We will refer only to the residences of Messrs Chas.AV. Holder, J V. M li- 
ner, Dr. T. P. Rogers, Dwight Harwood, R. E. Williams and Mrs. Julia 
Allen. Of business houses, we may mention Royce's Block, Schroder s 
Opera House, four out of the five stores in Minerva Block, and a host oi 
others, too numerous to be particularly mentioned. Of public buildings 
they have erected two of the school buildings of Bloomington. also a very 
tine school building in Atlanta, Logan County, and one in Delavan, Taze- 
well County, a tine court house for Warren County, Indiana, and the 
Wesleyan University, which is an ornament to the city of Bloomington. 
They have contracted for the new Catholic Church, Gothic in architecture. 

It will be seen that these gentlemen have enjoyed in the highest degree 
the confidence and good will of the public, and still continue so to do. 

B 



APPENDIX. 



INSURANCE-LIFE AND FIRE 



After many years of experience people now see clearly the importance 
of insuring their property. A leading newspaper while commenting on 
the business of insurance says: "Insurance distributes over the multi- 
tude a loss that would crush the individual. Many who read these lines 
will be able to recall the time when men argued that if it was a profitable 
business for companies, it might be the same for individuals, forgetting 
that the companies' risks are widely scattered, that the average could be 
predicted with tolerable certainty, and that the individual had no means 
of calculating chances, while his loss would in all probability prove his 
utter ruin." Persons engaged in the business of insurance calculate the 
losses by fire with the greatest accuracy and govern their rates for premi- 
ums accordingly. An active competition keeps the premiums as low as 
safety allows. 

GREAT CARE 

should be taken never to take a policy from a company which insures too 
cheaply, for exceeding low rates indicate either, that a first-class swindle 
is intended or that the company taking such policies is not doing business 
on a safe basis. 

J. A. Guernsey & Co., Insurance and Loan Agents, represent relia- 
ble and well established companies, and the rates of insurance are as low 
as they can be placed on a sound basis They represent 

The Northwestern Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee. 
The cash assets of this company are fifteen million dollars, and its respons- 
ibility and standing are unquestioned. Every lather of a family, every 
man who cares for the welfare of his wife and children should be insured. 
Every young man who wishes to make a profitable investment of his 
earnings and who wishes to look out for the future, should be insured. 
The man who is in moderate circumstances should be insured, and the 
man of wealth should be insured, for he cannot know how soon the wheel 
of fortune may turn and leave him penniless. 

J. A. Guernsey & Co. represent the Lycoming Fire Insurance 
Company of Muncy, Pa., whose cash assets are six millions. The Ly- 
coming has been in existence for thirty-four years and has always been 
noted for its prompt and honorable settlement of losses. Just after the 
Chicago fire the Pittsburg Real Estate Register said : 

"Although the Eastern States contain splendid examines of strong 
companies, yet in the whole country a prouder and more consummate 
strength was never shown in a national financial strain than Pennsylvania 
gave in the golden soundness of that company, the Lycoming of Muncy." 

J. A. Guernsey & Co. represent the Farmers' Fire Insurance Com- 
pany of York, Pa. Its cash assets are $900,000. It was organized 
twenty-one years ago and by the most careful and safe management it 
has obtained its present standing. While many others have gone down 
and sunk beneath financial disaster it has stood firm and strong. 

J. A. Guernsey & Co. are agents for the Lancaster Fire Insurance 
Company of Lancaster, Pa. This company was organized thirty-six 
years ago. Its age and prosperity tell the story of its careful management 
and perfect soundness. Its cash assets are $350,000. 

J. A. Guernsey & Co. represent the Penn Fire Insurance Com- 
pany of Philadelphia, a strong company, having capital and assets 
amounting to over $450,000. 

J. A. Guernsey & Co. represent the People's Fire Insurance Com- 
pany, and the Planters' Fire Insurance Company, of Memphis, 
Tennessee, the leading companies in the Mississippi Valley. These are 
all reliable companies. Persons dealing with us may be sure of honor- 
able treatment, J. A. GUERNSEY & Co., 

No. 18, P. O. Building, Bloomington, 111. 

c 



APPENDIX. 



J. A GUERNSEY. 



CHAS. HENNECKE. 



J. A. GUERNSEY & CO., 

GENERAL 

pfe n\\i\ fm fammtt, ami ^n\\ j^te» 

Money to loan in sums of $2000 and upwards at 10 per cent, interest on 
common Bonds and Mortgages. 



REPRESENT 



The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of 
Milwaukee, Cash Assets, $15,000,000,00. 

The largest life company west of the seaboard cities. Seventh in financial 
standing on the continent. 



ESTABLISHED 1840. 

LYCOMING FIEE INS. CO., 

MUNC Y, PA. 

Capital and assets, Jan, 1st, '74. ..$5,770,154.54 

Surplus 5,365,011.54 

Liabilities, including reinsur- 
ance at 50 per cent 405,143.00 

Losses paid up to Jan. 1st, '74.... 5,022,143.38 



ESTABLISHED 1838. 

LANCASTER FIRE INS. CO. 

LANCASTER PA. 

Capital and assets, Jan. 1st, '74*... $337,197.94 

Surplus 232,905.26 

Liabilities, including reinsur- 
ance at 50 per cent 104,292.68 

Income during the year 199,654.00 

Expenditures during the year.. 115,447.00 



ESTABLISHED 1853. 

FARMERS' FIRE INS. CO., 

YORK, PA. 

Capital and assets, Jan. 1st, '74... $831,394.91 

Surplus 675,939.91 

Liabilities, including reinsur- 
ance at 50 per cent 155,455.00 

Losses paid up to Jan. 1st, '74.... 980,289.95 

ESTABLISHED 1872. 

PENN FIRE INS. COMP'Y, 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

Capital and assets, Jan. 1st, '74.. $413,298.97 

Surplus 226,153.97 

Liabilities, including reinsur- 
ance at 50 per cent 187,145.00 

Income during the year 373.933.00 

Expenditures during the year.. 268,265.00 



ESTABLISHED 1867. 

PEOPLE'S FIRE INS. CO., 

MEMPHIS, TENN. 

Capital and assets, Jan. 1st, '74... $408,760.43 

Surplus 362,495.71 

Liabilities, including reinsur- 
ance at 50 per cent 46,264.72 

Income during the year 122,318.40 

Expenditures during the year.. 67,444.00 

ESTABLISHED 1869. 

PLANTERS' FIRE INS. CO., 

MEMPHIS, TENN. 

Capital and assets, Jan. lst,'74... $307,250.28 

Surplus -. 227,209.83 

Liabilities, including reinsur- 
ance at 50 per cent 3 ™- - ™ 

Income during the year 212,297.00 

Expenditures during the year.. 133,726.62 



CAPITAL REPRESENTED, 

$23,078,067.07. 

> ♦ » 

Insurance placed at reasonable rates and losses 
paid promptly. 



Facilities for placing Larp Liues at Short Notice. 



a 



APPENDIX. 




THE HALDEMAN MARBLE WORKS, 

S. W. COR, MAIN AND OLIVE STS. 

Bloomington, - - Illinois. 

This old and reliable house was established in Bloomington, Illinois, 
by the Haldeman Bros, in the spring of 18-51, in a little one-story frame 
building on the southwest corner of the Court House Square, but was re- 
moved in '52 to northeast corner of Front and East Streets, and in '53 to 
223 E. Front St., but owing to the steady increase of business were soon 
outgrown and another removal became necessary, and it was decided to 
purchase the old Catholic Church and grounds on the southwest corner of 
Main and Olive Streets, to which the works were removed in June, 1873, 
after having been fitted up in fine style with office, two mantle rooms, 
monumental rooms, cutting and polishing rooms, together with a large 
show yard, completing one of the finest and most extensive factories in 
the Northwest. 

The work from this establishment is unsurpassed in elegance and beau- 
ty of design, symmetry of proportion, and excellence of finish. 

The McLean County Soldiers' Monument, the finest county monument 
in the Union, is from these works, together with many of the finest in 
the Bloomington Cemetery, among which might be mentioned those of 
Col. Gridley, Judge.1. E. McClun and Messrs. Dance, Townsend, McLean, 
Lowry, Smith, and Miss Jennie Bice and many others. 

Many fine monuments from this house and to the beauty of the Cath- 
olic Cemetery near Bloomington, perhaps the one foremost in beauty of 
finish and design, is erected to the Lady Superior, M. Regina Farrell. At 
Funk's Grove stand two massive monuments, one to the memory of the 
late Isaac Funk and wife, the other to Robert Stubblefield. At Delavan 
stands a fine soldiers' monument; at Eureka, one at the grave of Caleb 
Davidson; in Leroy, one erected by Bonnett Bros. ; in the Catholic Cem- 
etery one to John Toohey, and one to J. "W. Hayes, in the Bloomington 
Cemetery. In fact, fine monuments and gravestones from these works 
beautify nearly every cemetery and graveyard in Central Illinois. 

In the celebrated Scotch granite an extensive business is done, import- 
ing direct from the factories in Scotland, having facilities unsurpassed. A 
fine monument of the red Scotch granite from this house stands in the 
Bloomington Cemetery to the memory of Mrs. M. Travis Also, one in 
Hudson to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Lewis, deceased. And in White Oak 
Grove one to the daughters of Mr. M E. Denmann. 

In marble mantles these works are justly celebrated, having furnished 
some of the finest residences in Bloomington, among which are those of 
Col. Routt, Mr. Dodson, M. Swann, R. Krum and others. 
, From the above sketch it will be seen that no further commendation 
is necessarv. 

E 



APPENDIX. 

GERHARD FREESE, II5 N - Centre Street, two Doors South of 

tne People's Bank, 



SADDLE & HARNESS STORE. 



BLOOMINGTON, ILL. 

The house of G. Freese, harness and saddle store, has never undergone any change, 
Mr. Freese came to America in the year 1850, having previously finished his apprenl Ice- 
ship as harness maker, in ( ddenburg, Germany. In 1853 he established himself In busi- 
ness in Bloomington. The lirst shop he occupied was at the corner where the People's 
Bank now stands, in 1870 the People's Bank Block was erected, and Mr. Freese situ red 
one of the lots of thai 1 dock, cm which in- built his store in symmel ry with the edifice 
called the People's Bank. Mr. Freese, like most men twenty years ago, commenced 
his business on a small scale, and to what degree lie has worked up his trade every 
citizeh of Bloomington and every tanner in McLean County know, it is not necessa- 
ry to count up the many good qualities which Mr. Freese possesses, as they have been 
tiie means of his success, strict integrity, straightforwardness, and the supply of a 
No. 1 article, have gained the confidence of his numerous customers. Mi-. Freest 
turned out on an average two hundred and fifty spans of harness per annum. He has 
constantly on hand the greatest variety of harness, saddles, bridles, collars, whips, 
<S:c., and dbes all kinds of repairing neatly and with dispatch. 



UNION FOUNDRY & MACHINE SHOPS. 

This establishment is owned by N. Diedrich and Henry M. Koon, win- 
transact business under the name of N. Diedrich & Co. Their works are 
situated on the line of the I., B. & W. Railroad, at Nos. 407 and 400 South 
Centre Street, Bloomington, 111. 

Messrs. Diedrich & Koon are both practical moulders. The firm is 
provided with patterns of beautiful designs in house, fence and bridge 
eastings, and are prepared to do all work in their line in as good style and 
finish, and at as low prices as any foundry in the West. They are also 
manufacturing steam engines and every description of machinery. All 
kinds of repairing are also done with dispatch. The best material, and 
the most thorough workmen are employed in the different departments of 
the business. 

In 1869 they commenced business at their present site, and they have 
since furnished the iron work for the greater number of new stores, dwel- 
ling houses and public buildings erected in Bloomington and neighbor- 
ing counties. In 1S71 they prepared by sub-contract under E. Gehlman, 
the iron work of the State University at Champaign; the iron work of 
the store occupied by Harms & Wagenfuehr, at the Western Depot ; the 
front of the store occupied by Mr. Melluish, watchmaker, on east side of 
the Square, North Main Street; the hardware store occupied by G. H. 
Read & Brother, 205 N. Main Street; the store belonging to John Magoun, 
occupied by J. H. Merrick. N. Main St. ; and the iron work of the Y\ es- 
levan University under contract of Hayes & Evans. Also, during the same 
year, the bank 'building and two stores at Chenoa; and, besides, three 
stores, under contract of Fisk & Fox. In 1871 they furnished all the iron 
material for all the stores erected by Dr Crothers of Delavan. In 1872 
they furnished the iron material for three new stores in Urbana; for a 
new bank and block at El Paso, under direct contract from Sbure, Tomp- 
kins & Co.; for the iron work of a new hotel in Clinton, 111., belonging 
to Mai-ill & Co.; for the McClun block (seven stores)on Main St., Bloom- 
ington: for two stores on Madison Street, (Ives' Block) under contract oi 
Haves & Evans; for the National Bank in Clinton, 111.; for the store in 
Davis Block belonging to Mrs. Allin, (occupied by Haggard & Hewett.J 
under contract of Haves & Evans. In 1S7. ,; ! they furnish.,! the iron work 
for four stores belonging to Swann & Smith, on North Main St., under 
direct contract; for one store engaged as a billiard hall, (by John Toohey 
up to the time of his death) belonging to M. X. Chuse, on X. Mam St.: 
for two stores in Atlanta, belonging to B. F. Gardener; and lor a store 
belonging to Mayers A Son, on South Main Street. 

Henry M. Koon became a member of the firm in 1873, when A- B. Ives 
retired. He is an important acquisition, in consequence of his well-earned 
reputation. Mr. Koon has made during the last six years all thecar- 
wheels for the Chicago & Alton Railway Company. 

F 



APPENDIX. 

W. B. HENDEYX, 

Justice of tie Peace, Coroner of McLean County, Notary Public 

AND GENERAL COLLECTING AGENT, 

Office in Court House Basement, BLOOMINGTON, ILL. 

We direct the attention of our readers to the above card. Squire Hendryx, by his 
worth and reliability, has secured many friends. He is liberal in his opinions, and 
the decisions he has given in the most intricate cases brought before him, have given 
generally, great satisfaction. Squire Hendryx is in every respect worthy of commend- 
ation. He served three years and a half as a soldier during our late war — was deputy 
sheriff for five years, during the last year of which he also officiated as justice of the 
peace. Squire Herr, on his retirement as justice of the peace, placed all the unfinished 
business in his care, a true token of the confidence and trust which this old veteran 
has in him, ^^-Collections of all kinds solicited. 

Squire Hendryx's grandfather, John Hendryx, was the first settler in McLean Co. 

Squire Hendrix war immerein Freund der Deutschen. 

LOUIi FLIN8PACH. 
WAGON & CARRIAGE MAKER, 

COR. OAK ANO MARKET STREETS, 

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. 



Mr. PiiiNSPACH is exceedingly careful in the selection of material for 
his carriages and wagons. His lumber is kept for several years before 
use, in order tbat it may be thoroughly seasoned. He is exceedingly rea- 
sonable in his prices and the quality of his work is unequalled. His car- 
riages and wagons have obtained a great reputation and are widely known 
for their good construction and perfect finish. He commenced business 
in 1860 and has continued with increasing success until the present time 



FUNERAL OUTFITS. 

Flinspach & Deneen are also prepared to furnish Metallic, Mahog- 
any, Rosewood and Gloss White Caskets, and Coffins of every style and 
price. Their New Hearse, which is equal, if not superior, to any in the 
city, will be furnished on application, at the most reasonable rates. 

Warerooms : Corner of Oak and Market Streets, opposite the old Gas 
Works, Bloomiugton, Illinois. 

m. 

Also Proprietor of the 

SALE AND FEED STABLE, 

Vale's Old Stand, Front Street, 

BLOOMINGTON, : ILLINOIS. 

The best turnouts and buggies in the city. This commodious stable, which will ac- 
commodate one hundred head of horses, has, since Mr. Keckley has become the pro- 
prietor, undergone an entire renovation, and has become the great trading center of 
horses for McLean and neighboring counties. 

The trading in horses is carried on under the style of Light & Keckley. They buy 
horses of any weight from one thousand pounds and upwards. Their shipments to 
Kastern markets amount to about one thousand horses per annum, or a carload week- 
ly. Those having horses to sell will here fiud purchasers at fair prices. Terms always 
cash. Mr. Keckley will also pay the highest market pricesfor oats, corn, hay (timothy 
and prairie,) and straw ; and farmers will find his stable the best place to feed horses 
in the city. Mr. J. O. Gurley, the noted Boston horse dealer, has made this stable his 
business place, where farmers can find him. 




APPENDIX. 

STROPE'S PALACE OF MUSIC. 





The largest and best assortment of Pianos and Organs in Central Illi- 
nois, and at prices as low as can be offered. 

Pianos and Organs sold on monthly instalments until paid for. Old 
Pianos and organs taken in exchange. 

All kinds of repairs made promptly and at a moderate rate. 
The best tuners are kept constantly on hand, and they call at any time 
in tbe city or country. 

Every instrument is guaranteed. 

Mr. Strope is the sole agent for the Hallet, Davis & Co. Pianos. 
These are the best Pianos now in use and have won the admiration of the 
leading masters of music. The following are extracts selected from a 
large number of letters from German masters whose names are immortal. 
and whose professional opinions stand for the highest modern author- 
ity in music : 

" It is the most admirable instrument ever made." 

FRANZ LISZT, First of living pianists. 
" I pronounce the instrument the best and richest in sound I have ever heard." 

Prof. F. R. RICHTKR. 
Composer and Teacher Leipzig Conservatory. 
"The best pianos I ever saw in my life. They far excel all other manufactures." 

H. SARO, Royal Prussian Musical Director. 

" They perfectly satisfy every demand made regarding touch , delicacy of expression 

and power of tone." FRANZ BENDEL, Pupil of Liszt. 

In addition to these explicit and concise testimonials by foreign mas- 
ters, which would seem to place the Hallet & Davis Piano above all 
question of precedence and superiority, similar professional endorsements 
of its general superiority are given in the written opinions of the leading 
pianists and organists of the United States, includiug the names of a 
thousand teachers and professors of music in our leading acadamies and 
seminaries. 

These Pianos, both Grand and Square, can be seen in Bloomington in 
large numbers, with a variety of other manufactures, at the Piano and 
Organ Ware rooms of Strope's Palace of Music. 
Mr. Strope is agent for the 

SMITH AMERICAN ORGAN CO. 

180 First Premiums 

HAVE BEEN AWARDED FOR BEST ORGANS. 



II 



60,000 ORGAXTS 

}mjt bm\ ^nde rnul m$ now h\ 

Illustrated Priced Catalogue sent free upon application. 

Palace of Music, Davis Block, Main Street, BLOOMINGTON, ILL. 



MEA.T MAEKET. 

COR. LEE AND MARKET STS: 

JACOB STOUTZ 

Came to Bloomington in the spring of 1854. During the first four years 
he whs in the employ of the old pioneer, A. Washburn. In 1858 however 
he set up for himself at the above mentioned place, where by steady in- 
dustry, fair and upright dealing he has succeeded in building up a large 
business second to none in the city. 

His shop is well known throughout the country and city, as he keeps 
only the choicest articles in his line. Farmers and dealers here find a ready 
market for stock, at fair prices. 

W. A. GERKEN, 

Manufacturer of and Wholesale and Retail Dealer iu 

CRACKERS, BREAD, 

AND ALL KINDS OF CAKE, 

118 EAST FRONT ST., BLOOMINGTON, ILL. 

Mr. Gerken's Cracker Factory was established in 1870 and he has 
brought to perfection the manufacturing of crackers. He makes crackers 
of all kinds, and is ready to supply them by the wholesale and retail. All 
retail dealers in groceries in the country will find it to their advantage to 
trade with him. He has had about twenty years of experience in making 
crackers. All of his crackers and cakes are guaranteed and all orders are 
punctually attended to. No. 118 E. Front Street, Bloomington, Illinois. 

JACOB SCHLEGEL & BRO., 



ARNESS 



r Saddle Stoe>e, 

103 N. Main Street, opposite Gridley's Bank. 

The Brothers Schlegel, although not long established in the city of 
Bloomington, have already gained an enviable reputation in their line of 
business. This they fully deserve, because they are honest and straight- 
forward in all their dealings with their customers, use the very best 
material and sell at prices which defy competition. Their motto is : 
" Small Profits and Quick Sales." 

They have constantly on hand the greatest variety of 

Jitt(flu% 3H&W*f*, Ipviilles, Collars, 

Trunks, Traveling Bags, Whips, &c, 

AU kinds of repairing done at the shortest notice neatly and promptly. 
Do not forget the place! No. 103 North Main Street, opposite Gridley's 
Bank, Bloomington, Illinois. 



APPENDIX. 



Blooiiiigoi Bindery ana 1 Blank Book Manufactory. 

AMOS KEMP, Proprietor, 
2Hi \. Outre St., West of Square, BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS, 

The Bloomington Book Bindery wasstarted in Jan., 
L854, by Hanee & Taylor. In December, L857, these 



gentlemen sold out to R. O.Warinner, who transferred 
the business in April, 1858, to W. E. Foote, of the 
Bloomington Pantograph. In. January, I860, Mr. 
Foote sold out to A. J. Merriman, who, on the same 
day, transferred the business to Amos Kemp, the pres- 
ent proprietor, who had come to Bloomington in 1855, 
to work for Hanee & Taylor. Mr. Kemp has carried 
on the business ever since, increasing it until it is now one the besl bind- 
eries in the West. Mr. Kemp commenced business under difficulties, hav- 
only a small capital at his command, but he gradually gained the good 
will and confidence of the public, as gentlemanly conduct, honesty, straight- 
forwardness in all his transactions and good work were, and are still, the 
rules and motto of his life. His establishment is furnished with all the 
machinery of modern invention In manufacturing blank books for our 
banks and mercantile houses, the business enjoys an enviable reputation. 
A specimen of the book-binding of Mr. Kemp is this work, " The Good 
Old Times in McLean County." Any job entrusted to this establishment 
will be executed with neatness and dispatch. Mr. Kemp stands high in 
the esteem of the citizens of Bloomington, and his word is reliable. His 
prices are uniform and as low as any of his competitors in the .State. 
Patronize him ! 




MAEBLE WORKS. 

J. K. Moore & Co , Marble, Stone and Granite Workers, importers of 
Scotch Granite, and dealers in American Granite. All things fashioned 
from these materials, such as mantels, grates, cabinet work, gravestones 
and monuments. The firm of J. K. Moore & Co. was established in 1859 
under the name of Moore Brothers. Since the year 1860 their place of 
business has been at No. 215, and now, 311 W. Washington Street, second 
block west from the Court House. The business of this firm had a small 
beginning, as has been the case with many of the most successful firms • 
but by fine workmanship and fair dealing it has obtained its present envi- 
able reputation. This firm did the stone work for the Wesleyan Univer- 
sity in 1869 and '70; the Livingston Block, south of the Public Square; 
Phoenix Bank and Block ; the stone work for McClun Block, on Main 
Street, and as sub-contractors for Hayes & Evans, they furnished the 
stone for the new court house at Williamsport, Indiana. J. K. Moore & 
Co. have the contract for building the new Methodist Church in Bloom- 
ington, with the exception of the brick work. This firm has made many 
monuments and has shown in this line the finest taste and the most skili- 
ful workmanship. They built the Dietrich monument; also, the monu- 
ment of John Geltmacher, George Bohrer. the late William Hanna, Dr. 
Noble, John Greenman, Dr. Martin, Alfred Bozarth, at Brown's Grove. 

The mantels made by this firm are seen in some of the finest residences 
in Bloomington, viz: those of Dwight and Daniel Harwood, William 
Flagg, Hon. W. C. Watkins, Judge McClun, James Hayes of the firm of 
Hayes & Evans ; and many others. They also made a granite monument 
for Oliver Ellsworth ; one for Darwin Haines, and a fine family monu- 
ment for Hon. John L. Routt. 

All persons dealing with them may be assured of the most honorable 
treatment and the most skillful workmanship. 311 West Washington 
Street, second block west from the Court House. 

J 



APPENDIX. 



Eagle Machine Works. 

R. LOUDON, Proprietor. 

NOS. 610 AND 612 NORTH MAIN STREET, 
BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. 



Mr. Loudon has over twenty years' experience as a practical engineer 
and mechanist. In 1864 he came to Bloomington, and took charge, as 
foreman, of the machinery department of the Chicago & Alton Railroad 
shops, which position he relinquished for the superintendency of the 
Bloomington Foundry, of which J. Ollis is proprietor. Whilst here, there 
were built under his supervision among other work the following : The 
engine in the Hudson Mills ; the engine in the North coal shaft; and the 
engine in the woolen mill of Jacob Mayer, lately destroyed by fire ; the 
engine in connection with Ellsworth Station, belonging to A. B. Ives. 
In 1870 he commenced business for himself at the above mentioned stand, 
where he has machinery and facilities for doing all kinds of machine 
work. He employs a number of experienced workmen, and he is prepared 
at all times to undertake any kind of work. 

In 1870, immediately after he commenced business, he fitted up the 
iron work at the coal shaft in Minonk, Woodford County. In 1871 he had 
the contract for the fire-proof addition, and all the iron work of the Pon- 
tiac Court House ; also that of the Wesleyan University, under contract 
of Hayes & Evans, In 1872 he built all the machinery in the Blooming- 
ton Shoe Factory ; also the iron work in connection with the elevator of 
E. H. Rood, at the I., B. & W. Depot, Bloomington ; and also the sheet- 
iron and wrought-iron work in the roundhouse of the L., B. & M. R. R., 
in Bloomington ; the iron work in connection with the elevator at Arrow- 
smith Station, belonging to A. B. Ives. In 1873 he had a large contract 
for furnishing iron work for the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home, at 
Normal ; the iron work in the oil mill of Waddle & Moore, opposite the 
L., B. & M. Depot ; the sheet-iron work of the Ciinton Bank, at Clinton, 
De Witt County ; additional iron work at Schroder's Opera House; work 
for the building occupied by Norris & Howard, in Minerva Block ; and 
for the store-house occupied by Maxwell, Batehelder & Co., on the west 
side of the Square ; also, for the Catholic Church, as far as it has been 
built, under the contract of Hayes & Evans. In 1874 he put up a veranda 
at the new residence of Mrs. Allin Withers of Bloomington. 

At the request of many friends he has been induced to start, in connec- 
tion with his machine shop, the business of Plumbing and Steam Fitting, 
and is prepared to put water into private residsnees and attend to all job 
work and repairing. Will have on hand and make to order, Copper and 
Zinc Baths, Cast Iron Sinks, Wash Bowls, Copper Boilers, Water Closets, 
Lead Pipe, Iron Pipe, House Pumps — Force and Lift, Sheet Lead, and 
everything pertaining to Plumbing and Steam Fitting. 

All work warranted and all orders by mail promptly attended to. 

He also owns the right for the County, for Van Tassell's Patent Piston 
Packing. He keeps Babbitt metal, and iron fencing of every description ; 
and does sheet-iron of all kinds. 

Tne various contracts which Mr. Loudon has executed have invariably 
given satisfaction, and as he guarantees all work to be first-class, and at 
the very lowest prices, we commend his establishment to the public for 
their patronage. 

K 



APPENDIX. 




The Buckeye Grocery 

508 N. Main St., 

J. Ml. J^ONGr, PROPRIETOR. 



Mk. M. J. Long is one of those young men who combines 
with excellent business qualifications, principles which 
must lead to success. Although he has not been established as long as many other 
firms of this kind, still his store has become already the stopping place uf the farming 
community. By keeping only the best goods in his line of business, and by dealing 
honorably with eyery customer, he has secured the patronage of a large number of 
customers. If a good cup of tea is wanted and light biscuits, Mr. Long is the man 
who can accommodate, as he makes Teas aspecialty. If ladies desire Long's " Favor- 
ite Baking Powder," Mr. Long is at hand to supply. If it is wished to replenish the 
supply of Family Groceries, Mr. Long will sell the best article at a small margin of 
profit. The ladies of the city will also find in his store choice No. 1 Country Butter. 

Farmers' produce bought at all times at the highest market value. Goods delivered 
to all parts of the city. Give him a call ! 



NOT TO BE OVERLOOKED. 



The American Submerged Pump, made upon honor and sold upon its 
merits. It has been tested for ten years in wells from 10 to 160 feet deep. 
It never freezes; has no leather valves or packing — all metal — works easi- 
er and will last longer than any other pump. The smallest size will throw 
a stream 60 to 75 feet from the end of fifty feet of hose, and it is valuable 
in case of fire or for watering gardens, &c. In proportion to its capacity 
or durability, it surpasses all others in economy by at least one-half. Each 
pump is guaranteed to do all that is claimed for it. Call and examine this 
valuable pump before purchasing elsewhere, or address, 

318 NORTH CENTRE STREET, 

BL00MINGT0N, ILLINOIS. 



T. P. POWERS, 



PROPRIETOR OF 



City Livery, Sale & Feed Stable, 

ON EAST, NEAR NORTH STREET, ONE BLOCK 
SOUTH OF NOVELTY MILLS, 



BLOOMIMGTON, 



ILLINOIS. 



First-class turnouts and buggies. This fine brick stable, which will accommodate 
forty head of horses, was rebuilt by Dr. Stevenson and Mr. Fisher, in 1871, after it had 
been destroyed by fire. In August last Mr. Powers bought the interests of these gen- 
tlemen and leased the premises. The stable could not have found a better successor. 
Mr, Powers is well known to the public and, therefore, no further commendation is 
needed. For evening parties, weddings, picnics, festivals, balls, and entertainments 
of all kinds we recommend Mr. Powers' conveyances, 

Mr. Powers will pay the highest market prices for hay and straw, corn and oats. 

Farmers will find this stable* convenient place to feed their horses, when in the 
city. 



Al'PKXDIX. 



C. E. DALTON, 



DEALER IN- 



ENGLISH, 



French and fterman Fauci Goods, 

■VQ'S'S, 

Children's Oarriages and Rockiu«* Horses, Etc, 

Traveling Baskets a Specialty. 
216 Outre St., Bloomiiigtoii, III. 



W. D. Hunter. 



W. II. Wright. 






Go to R. FELL'S 
HE STAtTHA^T 

For a Good Square Meal. 

Also, Oysters in every style. Remember 
the place, 405 N. Main, Bloomington, 111. 



J4untee^& Wright, 

™ lill 

Lip 

AND CIGARS, 

ll<; ('<>iiier of Front and Center Streets, 
BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. 

CHAS. H. GMEHLIN, 

CSiin Mamifsicliirer and Healer in 
All Kinds of 

FIRE ARMS, AMMUNITION, 

And Sporting Apparatus. 

Stencil Cutting, Locksmithing, Key and 

Baggage Checks made to order. Stencil 

Paste and Brushes always on hand. 

309 VV. Washington St., 

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. 



P. S. Mr. Ginehlin, having purchased a new 
lathe and steam engine, he is prepared to do all 
kinds ol machine work with dispatch. 



OTTO KAMM& SON, Woftlpri (rftOfk 

.Successors to R. P. Smith & Son.) V/V/l.V'Ax \J! l/l/UOl 



(Successors to R. P. Smith & Son.) 
Wholesale and Retail Dealers in 





W.&C. D. PERRY, 



Dealers in 



m Centre St., Next 

BLOOMINGTON, 



People's Bank, 

ILLINOIS. 



Established, January, 1854. 



WOOL, HIDES AND PELTS, 

Also, Woolen Goods, Flannels, Jeans, 
Blankets, Yarns, Cassimeres, Tweeds, etc. 

Their Goods are of fine quality and sat- 
isfaction is given to all customers. Their 
place of business is 

207 S. Centre Street, Bloomington, III. 



Louis Matern, 

Manufacturer of Superior 

CARRIAGES AND BUGGIES. 

Manufactory and Repository : 

Nos. 306 and 303 West Front St. 

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. 

M 



LlM/EIC. 



the well known blacksmith is to be found 
on the 

Corner of Market and Main Streets, 
Near the Novelty Mills, 

where he has been located during the last 
seven years. His work is done with the 
greatest care, and satisfaction is guaran- 
teed. 



APPENDIX. 



THE LEADER 



The success of the Leader newspaper is almost unparalelled in the 
history of western journalism. From the publication of its first number 
it lias been awarded a place in the front rank of newspapers, and hasgrad- 
ually worked its way more and more into the confidence of the people 
until it has become a leader in fact as well as in name. The daily is a 
Uvely, newsy sheet, with a large city and country circulation, and the 
weekly is the largest paper printed in the West, brim full of interesting 
reading— a paper for all. 

The Leader was established in 1868 by J. S. Scibird and Orin Waters ; 
afterwards it passed into the hands of the " Leader Company," of which 
Mr. Scibird was Secretary, Mr. Waters, Manager and Treasurer, and Mr. 
C. P. Merriman, editor. A few months ago Mr. Waters bought out the 
entire business and became publisher and proprietor. Mr. Merriman re- 
tired from the chair editorial, May 9th, 1874. 

Under the present proprietorship of Mr. Waters, we find Mr. Charles 
P. Hunter occupying his old position as cashier and book-keeper ; Mr. J. 
W. Nichols is editor, and Mr. M. F. Leland controls the local columns. 

In the printing rooms the author of this work has found that in Mr. Hen- 
ry Sturges, manager of the book and job department, the firm has gained 
a valuable acquisition. Mr. Sturges is a gentleman by education and in 
manners, and is extensively known as a man of ability and taste in job 
work, to say nothing of his business qualifications, which are of the high- 
est order, and he is ably assisted by a corps of first-class book and job 
printers. 

Mr. Waters is a public spirited man, and his paper is alwaj s ready to 
help along matters of public interest. He carries this spirit into his bus- 
iness to the extent of buying new material required for any work, thus 
enabling him to turn out anything in the line of printing, from a small 
card to the largest volume 

The 'Old Settlers of McLean County" have all passed through the 
hands of the Leader printers, and received their impressions from the 
Leader presses, and we suggest that if any there are who do not patron- 
ize the Leader office, they should do so from this time henceforth. 

Taking the establishment as a whole and in its various departments, the 
public will find a genial lot of gentlemen, with whom it is a pleasure to 

transact business. 

H 



APPENDIX. 



F. J HOFFMAN, 

Upholsterer and Manufacturer of all Kinds of 

Fancy aid Plain Willow Dress, 

Lambrequins and Long Draperies. 

MATTRESSES AND LOUNGES 

Hanging Laces and Shades, Putting up 
Cornices, Making and laying Carpets All 
Kinds of Upholstering done to Order on 
short notice. All work warranted. 

CHURCH CUSHIONS A SPECIALTY. 

Over Perrigo A Coblentz, N. Side Square, 
Bloomington, Illinois. 

CHAS. HENNECKE, 

18, P. 0. Building, Bloomington, 111. 

Exchange, Passage, Collection and Fire and Life 
Insurance, Notary Public. Agent for European 
Steameis and Sailing Vessels. 

Excbaugs drawn upon all the commercial cities 
of Europe. Tne most leasonalde emigration con- 
tracts executed. Money sent without extracharge 
to the house of the consignee, eveu in the smallest 
villages in Germany. Powers of attorney for the 
collection of estates in Germany. Parcels and 
packages sent to any part of Europe. Passports 
quickly obtained. Letters promptly answered. 

Zi. M. TEMPLE, 

Commission Merchant 

AND DEALER IN 

Staple and Fancy 



Li' 

MAJOR'S BLOCK, 

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. 

Highest Price paid for Produce. 



ESTABLISHED 1856. 



H. JETER, 

Dealer in Metallic and Wood 

Cases & Caskets 

Satin. Merino and Lawn Shrouds of the 
handsomest designs. 

Hearses and Carriages 

furnished when desired. Charges reason- 
able. 

403 N. Main St.. Bloomington, III. 



CEO. B. TIARKS, 

)I rtAlIlllClCIIAll MVDl 



For the purchase and sale of 

Grain, Flour, Seeds, Hops. Broom Corn, 
Potatoes, Beans, Peas, Green and Dried 
Fruits, Live and Dressed Poultry, Game, 
Butter, Cheese, Eggs, Hides, Pelts, Furs, 
Tallow, Beeswax, Feathers, Wool, &c. 
A house of first-class standing. 

186 West Randolph Street, 
CHICAGO, - ILLINOIS. 



J. & M. FRANK, 

Dealers in 



Nos. 107 and 109 N. Centre St., 

BLOOMINTON, - ILLINOIS. 

Special attention given to handling fruits 
and berries, etc. Choice No. 1 country but- 
ter always on hand. Farmers* produce 
bought at all times at the highest market 
value. We will not be undersold by any- 
one. Gillet's Pure Flavors and Soap Pow- 
ders, used in every family, always kept. 



F. NlEr\GARTH, 
Dealer in and Manufacturer of 

Boots & Shoes, 

409 North Main Street, 

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. 



A full line of the Best Goods at Lowest 
prices. 

PETE JACOBY, 

Dealer in 

GROCERIES & PROVISIONS, 

113 Soul li Main Street, 

BLOOMINGTON, - ILLINOIS. 

Choice No. 1 Country Butter always on 
hand. Farmers' Produce bought at all 
times at the highest market value. 

special attention given to the handling 
of fruits, berries, etc. Pete Jacoby is the 
man who always keeps a stock of potatoes. 
Established 1863. 

o 



APPENDIX. 




THE REMINGTON 



J SEWING 



Have left all Rivals behind them. 

COUNTY SIPfCE 




n 

o 



H 

© 




S!ZJIZ»3V»I S£I 



Represented in Bloomington by 



:e. s. "YOTJisra-. 



ROOMS : 

McClun's Block, 410 N. Mai 



n st., ! Bloomington, 111. 



It is now an established fact that of all the Sewing Machines at present In the mar 
ket, the "Remington" is the one which stands without a rival. It lias stood all the crit- 
icisms, brunts and tests, and has come out as victor.' 

The demand of the ladies now is : the "Remington " and no other.; 



pairs of old machines promptly done. Needles, Oils and Thread 
for all the different kinds of Sewing Machines. 



APPENDIX. 



Aarcn G. Earr. Henry L. Zarr, Notary Public. 

KARR & KARR, 

Attorneys at Law, 

N. W. Cor. Washington and Centre Sts., 
Bloomington, - Illinois. 



C. S. HOHMANN, 

Proprietor of 

Tie Ashley House Earner Stop, 

AND BATHING ROOMS, 

One Door South of the East Entrance to 
AsMey House. 

Fine Brands of Cigars and Gents' Furnishing Goods. 

BLOOMINGTON, - ILLINOIS. 



Established isi3, where now. 



LYIAN MBE, 

Manufacturer of 

Carriages & Wagons, 

Blacksmithing, Repairing, Re-irimming 
and Repainting Dont to Order, 

106 & m Centre St.. BLOOMINGTON, ILL. 
First-class work h Specialty! Cheapest House 

in I lie West ! 

SWICK'S 

&RT eALLBBYI 

Our Home Hank, 8. of Court House, 

BLOOMINGTON, - ILLS. 

Pictures Copied I" uuj size. Painting oi all 
kinds. 



WM. W. MARMON, 

Late Paist A Harmon, 

Wholesale and Retail 

illQiliTi 



115 North Main Street, 

BLOOMINGTON, : ILLINOIS. 
Eight Years in Bloomington. 



D 



Wholesale and Retail Dealers in 

ry Goods, 
j ) 

Carpetings, Ready-made Suits. 
FITZWILLIAM&SONS. 

The Old and Reliable Firm of 

J, W. & G, TROTTER, 

Dealers in 

Lumber, Lath, Shingles 

Doors, Sash, Blinds, Grain, Etc., Etc., 
Market St., West of C. & A. R. R. Bridge, 

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS. 



H. S. HERR, 

Conveyancer & Rotary Public. 



i ■ •■■■ Office, South Easl room Court House 
Basement. 
Makes Collections a Specialty. 

Q 



APPENDIX. 



JNO.R WINTER, 

Attorney & Counselor at Law, 

N. K. (<»r. Court House Basement, 
BLOOM I N( JTON, ILLINOIS. 



ESTABLISHED 18H6, 



Loans negotiated ou real estate security 
Collections promptly made. 
Herr Winter hat viele deutsche Clienten 
.mil ist des allgemeinen Zutrauens werth. 



KirkenclalL Pierpoat & Co., 

The only exclusively Jobbing 

DRY GOODS, 

NOTION" A1STI3 

CLOTHING HOUSE IN THE CITY. 

No. no Front Street, 

BLOOMINGTON, - - ILLINOIS. 



JDJL.1<T. OSWALD 




Under People's Bank, 
South-west Cor. Centre and Washington Sts., 

iBLOonvLiisra-Tonsr, ills. 



FHOS.J.BARNETT V. W. A1TD21TTS, 

Manufacturer of all kinds of 
i old rcsidenter, and one of the founders of 

li-ltov. now attends to the -w-j ill 1 i^i I * f 

, ,. x . „" 1¥111 _ . Upholstered Goods ! 

jollectmo; & Real Estate Bnsmeas. 



Letters promptly answered. 

Is&oy, McLean County, Illinois, »S 



And Dealer .n every \ ariel j of 

PURNn^ U IS E . 

4,2 N. Main St., BLOOMINGTON, ILL 



Me will not be iimlrrs ild. All repairs pioumtlj 
mil done witli dispati li, Coinc and 

-noils 

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